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starr-fall-knight-rise · 4 years

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HASO, “A bucket.”

I wrote this little fluff piece this morning because I didn’t have the energy to write anything else. Still fighting with my motivation right now, but I hope you all like it :)

The air smelled like fall, wet dirt, a chill, and the unmistakable tang of mouldering leaves raked into large yellowing piles. The sky overhead was blue, and it was just beginning to warm as the sun peaked higher into the sky. Standing on the sidewalk, he stared down the street of his childhood watching orange and yellow leaves fall to the pavement. In the distance he could hear the shouting of children, and watched decorative skeletons clatter and blow in a light wind.

A soft crunching noise jogged him from his musings, and he turned to see Sunny contemplatively staring at a yellowed leaf, only to watch her pop it into her mouth and crunch on it like it was a potato chip.

He frowned at her and she turned to look at him, “What?”

“Seriously?”

“What do you mean, Seriously?”

“Gonna go ahead and eat the fall ambiance?”

She frowned at him,” The trees aren’t using them anymore, and I don’t see you eating them.” He just shook his head at her, and turned to walk up the front steps and onto the porch. She paused to stare at the cluster of pumpkins on the front steps, and the grizzly faces that were carved into them. His father was a master at pumpkin carving, evidenced by the fact that Sunny made, “What the hell.” she turned to look at Adam and he shrugged.

“What are those?”

“Pumpkins/”

“That does not answer my question.”

“THey are a type of squash or gourd or…. Or something. People grow and eat them most of the time, but it is traditional, in october to carve scary faces on them for fun. Maybe mom has another one lying around and will let you try it out.”

“But why?”

“Back in the day people thought that doing this would help to fend off evil spirits, but now it is more of a contest to flex who is the most artistic. Dad wins every year.”

They stepped onto the porch where fallen leaves were still clinging wetly to the front steps and knocked.

“It’s open!” Came the voice from inside

The two of them slipped in, Adam taking off his shoes and Sunny wiping her damp feet on the entrance rug.

They walked into the living room to find his mother, Martha sitting on the floor at the center of an explosion of pictures, and a couple of open binders.

Adam and Sunny walked in very carefully stepping over the pictures.

“Sorting the photo album again?” “Again, the last time I did this was almost ten years ago.”

Adam wantered closer to his mother and Sunny curiously examined some of the photos, until one caught her eye.

A very tiny, chubby human barely able to stand on his own, and with bright green eyes.

She picked up the picture gingerly in one hand, “Awww is this you? You and your fat little cheeks.”

Adam turned, and Sunny held up the picture. Adam blushed and Martha laughed, Sunny looked at the next picture in the line, which seemed to be paired to the first, but now the small boy had a large bucket on his head, his feet sticking out from underneath. The bucket had holes in the side.

“What are you doing.”

Martha laughed again, “We were playing hide and seek.” Adam was still blushing madly as she continued, “He grew into his intelligence late in life.”

***

Martha walked slowly from the back room into the living room, “Ready or not here I come.”

The house was mostly quiet. The rest of her brood was out with their father on a hike for the day, but their littlest had woken up with a slight cough so she had decided to keep him home. He had spent the first half of the day lethargic, but around lunch time after some strawberries he had perked up and become his usual exhausting self.

“Come out come out. I’m gonna get you.”

It was the giggling that gave him away, but when she turned to look she paused, sagged a bit and rolled her eyes covering her smile and laugh with a hand. The living room was completely clean, aside from a round laundry basket sitting dead in the middle, and two chubby little legs sticking out from under it. Not to mention that since it was a laundry basket it had holes in the side, and she could see him looking at her from inside.

She discreetly took a picture and quietly to herself Lord child i hope you grow into your brains soon

But instead of calling him out on his hiding spot she wandered around the room hands on hips, “Now where could he have gone…. Could he be under here?”

Giggling

She kept up the pretence for the longest time until he seemed to have gotten tired of her charade. She heard the bucket tip over and he ran over on his stubby little legs grabbing her by the leg.

She acted surprised, “OH there you are!. I have been looking ALL over.”

He grinned and hugged her leg again.

She reached down and picked him up and he rested his head against her shoulder.

That was another thing about her youngest. He was VERY VERY cuddly, and she idly wondered what that would translate to when he got older. She patted his back and tried to fix his unruly blond hair which stuck up from all sides of his head, but it was no use, she sighed and gave up.

Oh well, she tried her best.

***

“You know honestly sometimes he is STILL as dumb as a pile of bricks.” Sunny mused setting the picture back down.

Adam rubbed the back of his neck, “I got my masters in aviation and orbital physics.””

“And yet who is the one who insists on putting strange alien plants in his mouth without knowing i they are safe or not.”

Martha frowned at her youngest.

He frowned back, “That is hardly fair, you eat them.”

“I also eat leaves, doesn’t mean you can too.”

She sifted through the pictures and barked a laugh at one that caught her eye, she picked it up, what are you doing. She turned the picture around, and Adam blushed madly. Martha laughed, “Oh yeah, we had to call the fire department for that one.”

“No, no no we are not going to be telling that story.”

A firefighter and a cop framed either side of the picture both giving exaggerated thumbs up with a young boy\ mabe seven or eight in the background stuck, backside first in a bucket of some sort, looking very embarrassed.

Martha grinned, “I think you were seven or eight maybe.”

“IT was Jeromy’s fault.”

****

“I dare you.”

The four boys and one girl stood at the top of the hill staring down.

Maya, who was fifteen years old, older by five years than Jeremy who was eleven, frowned down the hill, “What if he runs into one of those trees.”

“He's got a thick skull, he’ll be ok.” Thomas said ruffling Adam’s hair viciously so the younger boy squirmed protested and ducked away. Adam was a very small boy, shorter than average and very thin. His clothes always seemed too big, his shirts baggy, and the shorts he was wearing were forced to stay on only by the belt his father had had to poke three more holes into to make it fit.

Even his sneakers seemed too big flopping around on his feet with floppy untied laces.

“Who is even going to fit in that?” David asked.

Arguably the smartest of the three brothers, it hadn’t occurred to the others that none of them would fit.

That’s when all their heads turned to look at Adam.

Adam frowned, “But I don’t want to.”

“Chiken.” Thomas said

“Come on your the only one small enough.” Jeremy urged.

“I see your chances of dying as very low, “ David interjected helpfully.

Maya tossed her braid back over one shoulder, “We should at least put some padding down at the bottom. Because if he gets hurt mom will kill me.”

Maya was technically supposed to be babysitting them, and keeping them out of trouble. But as was common with their family, she was not immune to the pull of a hair brained idea especially not when she was just to curious to see how it turned out.

Adam stomped his foot, “But you guys ALWAYS make me do it.”

“Because the buckets are ALWAYS too small for us, “Come on don’t be a chicken.”

Adam sighed and walked over to the barrel. He tired crawling inside it backwards, and when that didn’t work he attempted to go in face first, but every time he was just to tall.

He shook his head, “Too small.”

David looked at him very thoughtfully, and then an idea seemed to jump into his head.

“Not if we fold you in half.”

Adam frowned at him.

“Come on, hold the barrel upright.” The other boys did as told, while David instructed Adam to sit inside butt first.

Adam frowned, “But that doesn’t sound very comfortable, and how am I going to get out.”

“We will tip you out, don’t worry.”

Adam frowned but then allowed himself to slide down into the barrel. It was immediately very uncomfortable.

He wanted to tell them to pull him out but by that time he had been tipped over onto his side, “Ready?”

“No.”

They ignored him.

Adam was near panicking now, it wasn’t exactly easy to breathe.

“Three, two, one.”

And then the world was spinning around him. He rocked and bounced and spun so fast his eyes rolled inside his head. He screamed but the scream was cut off as he slammed painfully into something.

Dazed and sure he was going to vomit, he heard voices.

“Oh no, Adam!”

“Adam are you ok!”

Footsteps raced down the hill.

“Oh no we killed him!”

“Shut up He’s still alive, look.” Something kicked his foot, and he groaned.

He’s still breathing.

“Let him out.”

Something tugged on his feet. But it only managed to pull him and the barrel with it.

“Here you guys hold the bucket and we will pull him out.

Wat ensued was a horrible tug of war on his legs and on the bucket neither of which seemed to want to let go.

“STOP!”

They dropped his legs.

“Um, what if we tipped the bucket upside down?”

“Ok.”

The four of them tried really hard, and at one point almost succeeded until someone’s hand slipped and Adam crashed into the ground very painfully. He was near panic now, “Guys! Get me out of here.”

David patted his foot, “Its ok, ill get you out, ‘we just need science.”

Science turned out to be a shoddy pulley system that went over the swing set and was designed to let them lift the bucket by way of rope and shake Adam out onto the ground.

The problem was the rope kept slipping off the bucket.

“Oh… no.”

A car rolled over gravel.

“Oh no, dad’s home.”

They heard a car door slammed shut, and Adam felt as the others hurriedly rolled him behind the swingset.

A door opened and the jangle of keys followed their father around the side of the house.

“There you all are, glad to see everyone is still in one piece, you didn’t burn the house down.”

“Nope.”

There was sudden silence, “Where is Adam.”

“Uh, he…. He is us, around here somewhere.” Jeremy had always been bad at lying

Their father turned his gaze on Maya, “Maya what is going on.”

“Uh…. nothing dad, we….”

“Don’t even try it….”

She sagged a bit, “We got Adam stuck in a barrel.”

There was a moment of silence, he heard the shifting of footsteps, “You got Adam stuck in a-” The light filtering into the barrel was cut off and he saw the silhouette of his father’s head, “Huh, you weren’t kidding. You are okay in their kiddo.”

His muffled reply came.

“Yeah…. I guess.”

Their dad grabbed the barrel by one end, tipped it over and shook Adam a few times. WHen nothing happened he gently set him back down, “Huh.”

“I hold and you pull his feet, “” They tried again but it didn’t work the second time either.

“Well, I have some tools in the garage.”

Adam began to panic as he thought of his dad's circular table saw.

“NO!”

“Ok ok.”

He heard his dad quiet for a minute and then, “Hey Joe, yeah this is Jim Vir….. doing good, and you, how about the family….. Glad to hear it….. Yeah anyway, my kids got my youngest boy stuck in a barrel like the geniuses they are, and I can’t seem to get him out. You want to send me a firefighter or two with something that can help….. Yeah thanks joe.”

Adam was relieved.

Of course as it turned out it was a slow day at both the police department AND the fire station, so what came rolling up was a motorcade of emergency vehicles. Adam was so embarrassed he wished he could melt through the barrel and into the ground as a group of cops and firefighters walked over to peer down at him from above.

“That looks comfortable.”

“How are you doing there son?”

There barrel was tipped back over, and he even saw his father sna a few pictures as the firefighters and police went to work surrounding the barrel. Of course since the entire towns emergency crew were here that drew curious neighbors who couldn’t help but laugh along with Jim at the antics of his children.

The wors part is when Martha showed up, and ran from the car scared out of her mind assuming something horrible had happened, only to find her husband laughing and taking pictures with the local emergency response team, and her youngest stuck in an oversized bucket.

At the end of the day they were forced to cut him out, but the sweet relief when he tipped onto the ground free at least was almost worth the embarrassment. He might not have thought that if he had known there was still a picture in both the police department and the fire station of him as a kid stuck in a barrel.

***

Sunny was laughing at him by the time Martha was done with her story.

He grimaced, “Why do you only keep finding the embarrassing pictures.

“Oh what is this,”

“What are you wearing?”

Adam covered his eyes.

“Oh yeah, I couldn’t get my other boys to wear it, but he would model anything for me when I needed it. This was when I was doing a commission for a Seventies themed party. Isn’t he adorable.”

“Is that a jumpsuit, and what is with those glasses.”

Adam looked up at the sky.

“And of course when Maya moved out, and I didn’t have the money for a mannequin….”

Sunny picked up another picture, “That is one big ass dress.”

“Ah yes the bell skirts, doesn’t he look nice.”

Adam grunted and cleared his throat, “I think you'll find corsets are surprisingly comfortable. Second of all, I rock the regency and victorian periods, and no one can tell me otherwise.”

He might as well own it.

This was the 41st century, dresses weren’t just for women anymore, and some of them had been quite comfortable.

They would never really be his style, but he could see why someone else would find them appealing.

By this point both Sunny and martha had migrated to the couch where they looked through embarrassing pictures of him as a baby and shared embarrassing stories. Sometimes gross stories as he sat on the other side of the room and suffered silently. Sunny seemed to be enjoying herself though, so he let it slide.

Seeing her happy was nice, since it hadn’t been very common over the past few months.

He blamed himself for that, and wondered idly how long it would take for her to fully forgive him.

He hoped not long.

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ssa-thotchnerr · 4 years

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Nothing Personal

Pairing: Aaron Hotchner x Daughter!Reader, Jacob Barber x Hotchner!Reader

Summary: After leaving the BAU, the Hotchner's relocate to a small city in Boston. It's there that Y/N Hotchner meets her new best friend, Jacob Barber. After being friends for years, it turns to something more. But it all flips upside down when Jacob is accused of murdering their classmate Ben Rifkin, and Y/N's dad is hired by the Rifkins.

a/n: here's another one of Amy's 2am ideas!! So, my plan for this is that the first few chapters will be Y/N and Jacob as 14 year olds(they get together when they're around 15) , and then the rest they'll be 17-18! Jacob is accused when they're older!!

a/n: this is pretty much just Jacob and Y/N’s first meeting, and then Hotch being a very annoying and embarrassing dad cause we all know he IS ONE!!! it’ll get better, I promise!!

Word Count: 1.8k words

Warmings: mentions of death, loss of a parent, some angst, swearing

—

"Y/N, you're gonna be late!" Hotch yelled up to you, you couldn't count on one hand how many times you'd heard that this morning.

"Yes, dad, I know!" You yelled back, hopping around your room as you tried to put your shoe on. "You've told me 11 times in the space of 45 minutes." You told yourself that last part as you finally managed to pull your shoe on. You grabbed your backpack and jacket as you ran down the stairs.

"Alright, Jack, let's go!" Hotch called out to your younger brother. "I know you're mad I got you up early but they wanted you to be there early, you've got a guide or something for the first few days." Your dad told you.

"Oh good, that sounds fun," You mumbled disinterestedly. Hotch sighed at your mood, he couldn't really blame you though, after all, you'd gone through so much in your 14 years of living and you just couldn't seem to catch a break. You watched as Jack ran past you and your dad and right outside.

"I know you're not overly happy about all of this, Y/N, but just...try and make a friend? Who knows, maybe you'll fit right in," Hotch said. You shook your head and then looked up at your dad. As much as you wanted to give your dad a break, after all, he was feeling the same way as both you and your brother were, this was a whole different state, living in Newton in Boston was very different from Washington. Your ego had gotten the best of you and you spoke before you could stop yourself.

"I fit in at my old school," And with that, you walked out of the house. Hotch sighed as he watched you get in the front passenger seat of the car, a hard stare on your face as you scrolled through your phone. He locked the front door, then got in the car to drive you and Jack to school. You and Jack were both in middle school, but different grades, Jack being 11 and you being 14, at least Hotch wasn't driving halfway across the city. As your dad pulled up outside the school, you saw how much different it was to your old school.

"Okay, have a good first day alright? Jack, behave, Y/N, behave," Your dad warned you both. You and Jack nodded as you got out.

"Bye dad!" Jack said, looking back as he followed you into the school.

"I have to be friends with the new kid today, do you know how practically awful that is?" Jacob said, making Laurie laugh as she drove him to school. He sat back and crossed his arms with a dramatic huff.

"Jacob, that's enough. I mean, what if you really like them?" Laurie asked, pulling up behind a black SVU. Jacob watched as a girl got out, and then a boy he could presume to be a younger sibling follow after her.

"Yeah, I think that's very unlikely, mom," Jacob said, picking has backpack up and getting out of the car.

"Be nice to them, Jacob, and have a good day," Laurie said, watching as Jacob slung his backpack over his shoulder and shut the car door.

"Alright, I get it. Bye mom," Jacob waved goodbye to his mom and followed behind the girl and her sibling, who made their ways to the office, the same as he would. The girl stood and registered her and her brother.

"Jack and Y/N Hotchner," You said, looking down at your younger brother as he stood beside you. The office woman pointed to two seats and you and Jack went over to sit. As you came away from the desk, you turned to see the figure standing behind you. You gave him a small smile as he looked back at you, looking like a deer caught in headlights. You turned back to face your brother and you sat beside him. Jacob shook his head as he stepped forward.

"I'm supposed to be guiding one of the new kids around," Jacob told her, his attention once more wandering off to you, but you seemed interested in anywhere but here.

"Well, you're in time, you're leading the girl over there, her name is Y/N," She said, pointing over to you and your brother. Jacob nodded and walked over to you, watching as you looked up at him.

"Hi, I'm uh-Jacob, I'm your...your guide, I guess?" You smiled up at him, you couldn't help but feel bad for him with the amount of stammering he'd just done.

"I'm Y/N," You introduced yourself. "This is my brother, he's a pain in the ass and thankfully not in our grade." You said, pointing down at your little brother as you stood up. Jack huffed as he looked up at you.

"I have a name, Y/N," Jack said, shaking his head as he looked at you. You shrugged and looked down at him, a small smirk on your face.

"It doesn't matter, Jack," Jacob stood awkwardly as you bickered with your brother. "Alright, I think I have to go, but have a good day alright, don't be too weird and try make some friends." You said, looking back at Jacob, who smiled at you.

"Are you ready to go?" Jacob asked you. You nodded and followed Jacob around. "So...you're new here?" You nodded and looked at Jacob, he was very, very awkward. "Where are you from?"

"Washington, my dad worked at the FBI and we had to move out here," You told him, sighing as you remember just how much you missed the rest of your friends and family that stayed back in Washington. "He's working as a DA now, we moved here like 2 weeks ago." You said.

"My dad's a DA too," Jacob said, watching as you smiled and looked at him. "Maybe they'll be friends." You laughed at Jacobs comment and shook your head.

"The day I see my dad make friends is the day I'll believe in religion," You said, shaking your head. The halls were empty since everyone else was in class, and there wasn't much time left of the first class.

"You and your brother seem close," Jacob said. You chuckled as you shook your head, looking down at the ground as you sighed. You and Jack had always been close, especially after your mom had died. Jack wasn't quiet old enough to remember, but you were, you remembered helping your brother hide and telling him to be quiet, your brothers life thrusted into your hands at the age of 8 years old. You remembered hiding in the closet in your room, having to stay as quiet as you could and then coming out to find your dad crying over your moms body. "Hey, are you alright?" You shook your head as you rid yourself of the trauma that you'd unintentionally resurfaced from within yourself.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine," You said, looking up at Jacob. He didn't look too convinced, but he didn't want to press, after all, he'd only known you for half an hour. "I just got distracted by the fact I have no friends other than my eleven year old brother." You said, making Jacob laugh.

"Well, I'll be your friend, Hotchner," He said, you shook your head at the nickname he'd given you. "What?"

"Don't call me by my second name, my dad coined Hotch or Hotchner years ago," You told him. Jacob chuckle as he nodded, sticking his bottom lip out.

"Alright, I'll think of something, I'll see you later."

—

You’d spent lunch and the rest of your day with Jacob, who admittedly, you were beginning to think he could make your whole situation a little bit better. You’d shown him pictures you’d taken with Emily, Spencer and JJ back when everything was normal.

Well, your version of normal.

“Y/N,” You were laying on your bed, earphones shoved in your ears blaring some Paramore song as you texted Jacob. Hotch sighed as he sat down on your bed beside you, you were that engrossed in your phone that you didn’t even notice your dad had sit down beside you. “Hello? Earth to Y/N!” Your dad said, pulling your earphones out and grinning when you jumped in surprise.

“Jesus, dad, don’t do that!” You whined, putting your phone down on your lap. “What do you want?” You asked him.

“What, I can’t say Goodnight to you anymore?” Hotch asked you defensively. You narrowed your eyes as you looked up at your dad.

“Not without wanting to know something,” You mumbled. Hotch laughed as he put his arm around you, shaking his head in surprise when you cuddled into him. “Listen, I’m tired.” You defended yourself.

“I’m not bothered, and speaking of being tired, it’s 1 am, why are you still up?” Your dad asked you. You looked up at him and shrugged. “Nothing to do with whoever you were talking to?” You shook your head tiredly as you yawned. “Oh, so now you’re very suddenly tired?”

“Of course, I had a very long day,” You said, smiling to yourself as you started to fall asleep, only to groan as your dad lifted you up. “Wow, that was incredibly horrible.” You mumbled, falling into the space that your dad once occupied.

“Like I said, it’s 1am, Y/N, go to sleep and stay off of your phone otherwise I’ll be taking it,” Hotch threatened you playfully. “Alright, Goodnight, Y/N.” Your dad said, kissing the side of your head as you let out a tired sigh.

“Goodnight, dad,” You said, twisting on your side and waiting until you heard your dads bedroom door shut, then you grabbed your phone again. “Oh, aren’t you a gullible parent?” You said, laughing to yourself as you started to text Jacob again.

#criminal minds #hotch x daughter!reader #hotchner!reader #agent hotchner #criminal minds fanfiction #jack hotchner #aaron hotchner #defending jacob #Hotch x fem!reade #jacob barber x fem!reader #fem!reader #andy barber #laurie barber

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ecto-american · 4 years

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The Fenton Conspiracy

Phic Phight Oneshot for SummersSixEcho: The Fentons only have two children...Right?

Read on FFN and AO3

"Um...hello?" Maddie spoke hesitantly at seeing three children sitting in the Fenton kitchen, eating breakfast. They all looked up at her when she spoke. "Morning Jazz, Danny. And…" She trailed off.

An unfamiliar child was eating cereal, and she was an absolute doppelganger of her son. Black hair pulled back in a side-braid, bright blue eyes just like Jack's. She smiled warmly at her as she chewed. Maddie couldn't help but notice that she was dressed in Jazz's old black tank-top and jeans.

"Morning!" Jazz chirped. She had a bagel and coffee, and Maddie never took her eyes off of the trio as she went to fetch a cup.

She broke contact enough to pour herself some, only to set it all down. Nobody was sleeping over that she could remember. She looked a tad too young to be one of Jazz's friends, and the only girl Danny ever brought around was Sam. This was definitely not Sam. Who was she? How come she had never seen her before?

The huntress spun to meet the three.

"I'm very sorry, dear, but who are you?" she asked. The unfamiliar child frowned.

"Mom, this is Ellie," Jazz scowled. "Your youngest? Our little sister?" Maddie had no clue how to respond to that. "How can you forget her?"

"I only have two kids," Maddie said firmly. She turned to get her coffee, taking a drink. There was no way she was just simply so tired that she was hallucinating the entire thing.

"You have three," Danny spoke up. As always, he sounded exhausted, and he was also eating cereal. "Trust me, they gang up on me."

"It's true, I made him give me a piggyback ride home from school yesterday," the unfamiliar girl, Ellie?, replied cheerfully.

"She did, lazy little," Danny muttered off something as he shoveled another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"It was far, and I was tired!" Ellie exclaimed.

"No, no," Maddie insisted. "I have two children." Danny sighed tiredly.

"Mom, how come you don't remember me?" Ellie's voice sounded absolutely heartbroken, and Maddie immediately felt a wave of guilt.

It didn't take long to immediately be hit with concern. What was this? Maddie knew she only had two children. There was no way one simply...forgot a child. As in, not forgot your child at the store, but the entire existence of a girl who had to be at least fourteen? This had to be some kind of prank. Her children wouldn't prank her like this though, would they? Neither were cracking up into giggles, the normal giveaway. Instead both were casually eating like it was...normal. Nothing seemingly out of place.

Maddie studied the girl as she took a long sip of coffee. She looked way too much like Danny and Jack for it to be some random girl for a prank either. Even if they found a doppelganger, which in itself was so unlikely, she could already immediately notice Fenton-specific quirks. The using of the inner wrist to wipe her mouth instead of a napkin of her hand, the way all of the children hunched over as they ate. It was odd how...much this girl fit into the family.

"What's going on?" Maddie demanded to know. She set the cup down on the table. Danny sighed, dropping his spoon into the cereal.

"Fine. I got detention again," he confessed. Maddie stared at him, and she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Look, I'm sorry. It wasn't my fault, it was Dash, he-"

"I mean about this girl, Daniel James," Maddie spoke coldly. Ellie dropped her own spoon in shock.

"I didn't do anything!" Ellie whined. "He's the one who got detention, I was in the library the whole time with Valerie!"

"You little liar!" Danny accused. "You weren't in the library, you were setting up a prank for Paulina with Sam!"

"Was not!" Ellie protested.

"Was too!" Danny argued back.

Was she having a stroke? Maddie watched the bickering in stunned silence as she tried to piece together everything.

"Are you a ghost?" Maddie asked bluntly, even though she immediately felt silly for asking such a thing. Of course a ghost wouldn't come out and confess such a thing.

Jazz sighed, annoyed as she put her bagel down.

"Mom, this is your daughter," she insisted. "Why do you resort anything to ghosts? It's not healthy to obsess this much on ghosts. Maybe tonight we should have a family night. It's been a while since we had one."

"Ugh," Danny made an annoyed noise from the back of his throat. "I'm not in the mood to watch Ghostbusters for the hundredth time."

"We can play board games!" Ellie pointed out.

"That's even worse," Danny complained.

"One of you two are going to explain what's going on," Maddie pressed her two (?) children, staring directly at Jazz and Danny. Neither flinched, nor gave any of their normal indications that they were lying, which honestly? Chilled her. What was going on?

"Ugh, one second." Jazz left the room, muttering something about the stairs. She returned moments later with her scrapbook, opening it, and Maddie couldn't believe her eyes.

This girl was in every family photo, and there were baby pictures of her. Pictures of school events with her there. Pictures of Maddie holding her as a baby, of her having three children at the beach and three Fenton children opening presents.

She didn't know what to think.

"We're gonna be late," Ellie spoke up, nodding at the clock. Everybody else glanced up.

"Ah, shoot," Jazz sighed. "Come on, I'll drive us."

Maddie watched Jazz and Danny pick up their normal backpacks, and Ellie pick up Danny's old backpack, a Crash Nebula themed one that he claimed to have outgrown.

"Bye Mom, love you!" Danny called out.

"Love you, see you after school," said Jazz, the three leaving the kitchen.

"Bye Mom! I love you!" Ellie chimed in.

"Um...have a good day, kids," Maddie spoke slowly. "I love you too."

She heard the trio of children chattering happily in the hallway, collecting coats and other winter gears. Nothing in particular, mostly just teenage talk about the upcoming day. School projects, friends, pointing out the recent snow and discussing weekend plans. The door opened, and it shut.

Maddie hurried to the window, watching the trio get into Jazz's car, it turning on almost instantly. Dani sat in the back, and Danny in the passenger seat. The car sat idle for a few seconds before her daughter pulled out of the driveway and took herself and her sibling, siblings?, to school. Maddie slipped back at the table, drinking coffee and looking through the scrapbook. When the hell did she gain a third child?

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Jazz sighed heavily as she grasped the steering wheel. Her siblings got into the car, and as soon as the doors shut, she finally spoke.

"I think that...actually kinda worked," she replied. She glanced up at FentonWorks in amazement.

"The power of just acting casual," Ellie grinned. The clone buckled her seatbelt. "Tucker's amazing at Photoshop."

"Was this really easier than just telling them the truth?" Jazz accused Danny. He shrugged, clicking the seatbelt into place and leaning back.

"That's the backup plan. But all we really need to do is convince an entire school, Dad when he gets home, our neighbors and extended relatives that Ellie's always been here, and also somehow keep Vlad from finding out," Danny grinned. Jazz made an annoyed huff.

"Good luck," she scoffed, and she backed out of the driveway.

#phics #phic phight #my phics #danny phantom #team ghost

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caswellprmanager · 3 years

Text

the caswell wears prada

read it on ao3!

Summary: EJ's style is simple and functional but Ricky discovers he's capable of more than just letterman jackets and white sneakers. (Part 4 of my trans!ej and genderqueer!ricky AU.)

Author's Notes: I have this little headcanon that EJ used to model baby clothes when he was a baby. Then only went back to modelling once he transitioned to the point he was comfortable enough. Also not me giving Ashlyn's parents a purpose except for just leaving the house empty enough for Ashlyn to throw parties. Hope you guys enjoy!

Warning: Implied Sexual Content at the very end but since it's not explicit, I'll just let y'all use your imaginations.

Ricky has almost exclusively seen EJ in basic white boy clothes. It's usually just a nice fitting t-shirt, some branded jacket, jeans, and branded sneakers. It's not exactly avant-garde but Ricky can appreciate the fact that EJ has found a distinct style that's both understated yet elevates his already good looks.

But from what Ricky has learned in the few months that they've been dating EJ is that just because he dresses like that, it doesn't mean EJ does not have an eye for fashion.

Ricky learned this one day when the two of them were hanging out with Gina and Ashlyn at Ashlyn's house.

Ashlyn's mom was the Editor-In-Chief of an editorial fashion magazine that focuses on highlighting brands that promote sustainable fashion. She also runs a design company herself. Every other minute, she'd be going in and out of her design studio with a phone against her ear and a different meter of fabric in her hands. Her job is also the reason why Ashlyn's parents aren't usually home. Ashlyn's mom would be invited to different fashion events or she'd meet with a client about a new start-up. Ashlyn's dad accompanies her so that she wouldn't overwork herself.

None of that is new to Ricky. What is new, however, is EJ's involvement in her work.

"Ashlyn!" Mrs. Caswell rushes in, a hundred different scarves wrapped around her neck. Ricky wonders if she can breathe beneath all that cashmere and silk. "Darling, I need your help."

"What is it, mom?" Ashlyn asks, pausing the movie the four of them were watching.

Instead of responding, Mrs. Caswell just runs back to her home studio with a hurried click of her heels. Ashlyn looks at the rest of the group with a shrug, moving to stand up until her mom comes rushing back in – this time with a little purple hat perched on her strawberry blond locks.

"EJ, sweetheart! You come too. I need your opinion on a few things." Before any of them could say anything, she's disappeared back into her studio in a flurry of scarves and sequins.

EJ doesn't even bat an eye and moves to follow his cousin out of the living room. Ricky grabs his hand before he could leave, asking him what Ashlyn's mom wants his opinion on. EJ isn't exactly Paris Fashion Week, if Ricky was gonna be honest.

EJ just smiles, placing a chaste kiss on Ricky's lips before saying, "I'll tell you when we get back."

With that statement, Ricky and Gina are left alone, both feeling more confused than before.

"Does that happen often?" Ricky asks Gina, who is picking through the popcorn bowl.

"Ashlyn's mom being weird?" Gina tosses a popcorn kernel up into the air before catching it into her mouth flawlessly. "I've seen Ashlyn help her a few times. But I haven't seen her call EJ into that room before."

"Yeah..." Ricky picks at a loose thread on their jeans. "Didn't really peg EJ as the fashionable type."

Gina pauses in her pursuit of the perfect popcorn kernel and raises a questioning eyebrow towards Ricky. "Hold up... EJ never told you?"

"Told me... what?" Ricky started to panic a little bit. They never liked hearing ominous phrases like that from other people. It fuels their already present anxiety about dating someone who is way out of their league like EJ – someone who could leave Ricky at any time if they realize that Ricky will never be good enough for them.

Gina seems to realize this quickly enough and she tries to diffuse the situation before it gets worse. "Oh! No no no, Ricky, it isn't bad!"

"Then what is it?" Instead of answering, Gina just looks over shoulder at the direction of where the Caswell Cousins went to. After a few seconds of making sure the coast is clear, she tilts her head and motions for Ricky to follow her.

Gina leads Ricky to the spare guest room that EJ occupies sometimes when he doesn't want to sleep at home. In fact, sometimes this room is literally just called EJ's extra room because he's here so frequently. Ricky's napped here a couple of times so it isn't a new place. But he's usually too tired to explore it due to some recent emotional problem or another.

By the far wall is a dresser that Ricky hasn't ever thought to look through. Gina beckons him to come closer as she opens the bottom drawer.

"Ashlyn showed me this when I first moved in. We had to call EJ immediately after because I just had... so many questions." After a few seconds of rummaging, Gina brings out a small stack of magazines triumphantly.

Ricky recognizes the magazines immediately as the same ones Ashlyn's mom is the Editor-In-Chief for.

"Are those...?" Ricky asks and Gina nods excitedly, motioning for him to sit down next to her. The two of them peer through the old issues together, pointing at things they think would look nice on them.

Before they turn to the middle spread, Gina turns to them with a serious look in her eye. "Ricky, I need you to brace yourself."

Ricky tilts their head in confusion. "For what?"

"Just," And Gina can't even hide her giddy little smile. "Get ready."

Ricky can't even bring themself to respond before Gina is showing them the middle spread of the magazine. Their mind skids to a halt when they see a younger EJ staring back at them from the glossy pages, dressed head to toe in the finest three-piece dress suit Ricky's ever seen.

And it isn't just that, EJ's all over the spread – dressed in all kinds of outfits. From gorgeously crafted lace button downs to tastefully styled overcoats – EJ models the shit out of them. Ricky scans the pages in awe because they've never seen EJ wear stuff like this. Sure, they've seen EJ in a suit during homecoming but not one with embroidered roses across the vest or paired with diamond encrusted gold jewelry.

Gina turns the page and Ricky lets out a small gasp.

It's a two page Ashlyn and EJ spread – the cousins looking absolutely ethereal dressed in the most delicate fabric embroidered with flowers along the seams. Their skin is glowing beneath the sunset, the light catching at the highlights on their cheekbones. But what really got to Ricky is one very small but powerful detail:

The flowers along EJ's shirt and the makeup he's wearing are in the trans flag colors.

"Ricky, look." Gina points at the small interview portion at the corner of the page, smiling when Ricky reads it and realizes that it's about EJ.

E.J. Caswell – Teen Transgender Model

"I've been avoiding modeling since I started transitioning and coming back to it was really scary." Says teen model E.J. Caswell. "But when my aunt gave me the opportunity to finally speak my truth through fashion, I knew that I wouldn't regret this decision in the long run."

"There are still so many moments where I hate my body. It's gonna take a while until that goes away. And maybe it won't. Ever." E.J. tells us with a sad smile. "But this is a start – and I get to style some really cool clothes while I'm at it!"

When Ashlyn Caswell was asked about the significance of this project to her cousin and to future transgender models, she smiled softly, making it abundantly clear how much she adores her older cousin. "E.J. is one of the bravest people I know. He's always been an inspiration to me and I'm so proud of him for doing this on his own terms. Plus, I'm really happy he asked me to be a part of it with him. But don't tell him I said that! I'll never hear the end of it."

"She said that?" E.J. said with barely concealed glee. "Aww, Ashlyn!"

Ricky and Gina giggle at the mental image of EJ probably giving an exasperated Ashlyn a big bear hug after his interview. Ricky can't help but stare at the spread again, lightly trailing his finger over EJ's face with a soft smile. He really is so beautiful. Ricky sometimes can't believe that someone as gorgeous as EJ is real.

"Looks like Gina beat me to it."

The sound of EJ's voice by the doorway makes the two of them freeze and turn to see both Caswell cousins looking at them with knowing smiles. But Ashlyn and EJ weren't wearing what they were wearing before Ashlyn's mom called them for help.

Instead, Ashlyn was wearing a floor length pink chiffon dress with embroidered roses scattered along its sleeves and body. EJ was wearing a dress shirt of similar color and material, pairing it with white dress pants and a ruby encrusted rose broach.

"Well look at you two supermodels!" Gina squealed in glee, bounding over to gush over Ashlyn's outfit. Ricky stays rooted in their spot on the floor, their eyes never leaving EJ's. EJ approaches them slowly and takes a seat on the bed next to Ricky. He moves into an effortless pose, making Ricky blush more than necessary.

EJ smiles at them, eyes sparkling mischievously. "Hi."

"H-Hi." Ricky says, moving to face EJ with shaky legs. "You look nice."

"Just nice?" EJ leans down with a smirk, a lock of hair falling to his forehead like some goddamn romance movie. Ricky didn't even notice that even his hair was styled differently. Was EJ growing his hair out? Why didn't he warn me?

"I'd say something dirtier but I don't wanna traumatize the girls." EJ laughs at that and Ricky could only stare at the way EJ throws his head back with the most beautiful smile they've ever seen.

This isn't fair. EJ is sitting here looking like he was plucked straight out of a Vogue magazine while Ricky's sorry ass is on the floor in pajama pants and an old hoodie. Fuck. They should have texted Kourtney for help with their outfit today.

"You're so cute," EJ leans forward even closer, so close that EJ's able to lightly graze their noses together. "Maybe I should dress like this more often to make you blush like that."

Ricky contemplates on the statement for a bit, imagining what it would be like if EJ were to wear more designer clothes to school everyday. EJ right now certainly looks confident and cool. Plus, he gets the added bonus of Ricky looking extra flustered around him.

But at the end of the day, it's EJ's body and EJ gets to choose whatever makes him feel good.

Besides, Ricky fell for EJ without all the bells and whistles.

"You don't have to wear fancy clothes to make me think you're gorgeous." Ricky says before they can stop themself from saying it. But it's out now and there's no turning back. EJ's eyes widen but they eventually soften after processing what Ricky said.

"It doesn't matter what I think, though." Ricky says, reaching for EJ's hand. "What matters is that you're happy. Whether you're wearing a potato sack or Versace. As long as you feel comfortable and you're seeing your favorite self in the mirror, I'll tell you that you're the most handsome boy in the world."

Ricky scoots closer to place a soft kiss on EJ's nose before pressing their foreheads together. Ricky can't really tell who's smiling wider from this angle but they didn't care.

"My handsome boy." Ricky whispers, lightly tracing EJ's bottom lip with their thumb. EJ smiles even wider at the sound of that and it never fails to make Ricky happy seeing EJ so happy.

They're about to move in for another kiss when they hear Ashlyn cough from the doorway.

The two of them separate abruptly, both blushing profusely as the girls giggle behind their hands.

"We'll leave you two alone," Ashlyn says, grabbing Gina's hand to pull her back to the living room. "I'll tell mom you'll be late for dinner."

As soon as the door closes behind the girls, Ricky turns back to a still blushing EJ, a small but urgent thought manifesting to the front of their mind.

"I should take this off-" EJ doesn't even get the chance to finish his sentence before Ricky is pushing him down on the bed and straddling his hips. "R-Ricky?"

Ricky smirks, placing a single finger on EJ's lips as they lean forward to whisper in his ear,

"I'll help you take it off." EJ lets out the smallest whimper at that but Ricky shushes him, blowing against his earlobe. "But you have to be quiet, handsome."

As soon as EJ shakily nods his head yes, Ricky gets to work.

Unfortunately, they're more than a little late for dinner.

---

A/N: I've added some reference pics below if y'all want a better image of what EJ and Ashlyn were wearing hehe :>

#ej caswell #ricky bowen #caswen #gina porter #ashlyn caswell #hsmtmts #hsmtms fanfiction #trans!ej #genderqueer!ricky #cloud's writing now

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stenbrozier · 4 years

Text

Mixed Emotions (Teen!Bill Denbrough x Reader + Teen!Richie Tozier x Reader)

“Henlo! I couldn't find your masterlist ): so I don't know if you already did something like this, but could I request a hc where Reader is split between Bill and Richie, totally lost and confused because feels like they love both? If you're okay with it of course” - @beauregard-s

Plot: You’ve known Bill and Richie since you were kids, running around in their backyards and playing with water guns. As you grow older, you grow closer to them and involuntarily start to notice how absolutely lovely they both are. You don’t wanna destroy any friendships, but you also don’t wanna suppress your feelings any longer.

Warnings: Slightly NSFW (making out, groping), implied smut, mentions of smoking weed + drinking, a n g s t + swearing

A/N: I ended up making this a fic cause I had trouble with the headcanons, but I hope you still like it ❤️ Aged up to 17!!

——————————————————————————

Bill laughed loudly as Richie squirted you in the face with a water gun, causing you to drop yours and bring your hands immediately up to your face. You rubbed the water off of your face, trying to rub the sting out of your eye as well but not realizing you were making it worse until it hurt so bad you started to cry. Richie dropped his gun first, coming over to help you get whatever it was out of your eye.

“(Y/N/N), I’m sorry,” he said, his high pitched voice ringing in your ears as you tried to thrash and pull yourself away from him. “Bill, go get Mommy.” Bill ran through the backyard, banging on the glass sliding door before Mrs. Tozier appeared at it and wiping her hands on her apron. She opened the door, and Bill grabbed her hand, pulling her to where you were.

“Mommy,” Richie yelled loudly as he pointed at you, still crying and wiping your eyes. Mrs. Tozier ran right to your side, gently prying your hands away from your eyes as she saw the redness that took over your eye.

“Okay, Honey, can you blink?” she asked as you nodded, still blubbering as she softly blew into your eye. After a few minutes, you were able to blink without it stinging and your sniffling had stopped.

“Richie, you’re mean,” you mumbled as you pulled away from Mrs. Tozier going to sit next to Bill on the little porch swing they had. Mrs. Tozier has offered you and Bill to come over for a play date, and you guys usually loved being with one another and nothing and ever happened; however, Richie was being a bit of a “meanie”, as you would call it, and had shot you with a devilish grin on his face. His mom had him in time out, sitting on the stool at the corner of the porch while you cuddled up to Bill on the swing. You guys swung a bit, trying to sneak a conversation with Richie while his mom counted down the minutes of his punishment while she made you guys dinner.

Mrs. Tozier poked her head out of the glass door and curled her finger in a “come here” motion. She whispered something in his ear, patting his shoulder as she slipped back inside. Richie sprinted over the swing, hopping on it and causing it to rock back into the house, a smile dancing on his lips. He threw his arms around you as the swing swung back and forth, mumbling “I’m sorry” over and over again into your neck until you accepted his apology. You stayed snuggled up to Bill, and Richie wrapped himself around you. Bill’s stomach rumbled, and you giggled at the weird, moaning sound it emitted.

“You g-guys are my b-best friends,” Bill confessed after the fit of giggles that you set off. You smiled up at him, hugging him closer as you felt Richie reach his arms around to hug you both.

———————

You and Richie sat on that same porch swing, now 17, getting ready to live your last summer together before college. You had slept over the night before to avoid the inevitable chores your parents would’ve given to keep you away from the Losers, the friend group that had been growing ever since you were five. They didn’t like the most recent additions, addition being Bev and recent being about four years ago, and they only really liked the four original boys that you’d met through the playground and school. Bill, Richie, and you had known each other since diapers because of your moms meeting at the park while you were all playing. Stan and Eddie were the two you had acquired in kindergarten, noticing their reluctance to reach out. You decided to reach out to them, Bill and Richie tagging along and getting closer to them than you were.

However, making new friends had never separated the original trio. You and Richie were inseparable still, his outgoing personality a perfect match for yours. He had grown up a lot over the years, towering over you, and everyone, at 6’3 with skinny arms and legs. His face had thinned out and his chiseled cheek bones made every girl fawn over him, though none of them cared to admit it. None of them but you, that is.

You had developed a crush on him over the years. Truly, you think it’s more of you just finding him super hot and wanting to make out with him once or twice, but you still thought that there was some sort of attraction there. You knew that you wanted something with him, but you didn’t know what. You were pulled out of your thoughts with Bill sitting on your opposite side of the swing, throwing an arm around you and kissing the crown of your head. You looked up at him, his soft green eyes meeting yours.

Now, Bill was the one you knew you had a crush on. He had been your rock for so many years, had given you so much hope and love that you didn’t know what to do with it. When you were younger, you had always kinda liked Bill: the 5’7 boy with pretty green eyes and wispy brown hair that held you while you cried and let you stay over his house for weeks at a time. Everything with Bill was always so domestic feeling, while everything with Richie was fast paced and “live fast, die hard.”

You sat in between them both, shutting your eyes and leaning your head back as you basked in the soft breeze and low humidity. Suddenly, you heard the crash of the Tozier’s metal gate hitting the fence right next to and it jolted you out of your comfort. Bev and Eddie walked in first, Eddie mumbling to himself about the heat as he slathered on what looked, and smelt, like sunscreen.

“What the fuck,” Richie said loudly as he gestured towards the fence where Mike and Ben were walking in from. Ben closed the gate softly and you furrowed your eyebrows.

“Where’s Stanny?” you asked, looking around confused as Eddie shrugged his shoulders. From beside you, Bill began to speak.

“S-stan said he’d be a b-b-bit late. H-his dad nee-needed him to r-run some err-errands.” Everyone nodded, taking their seats on the wooden porch as you scooted closer to Bill so Eddie could squeeze in next to Richie. Richie looked over at Eddie with a look of adoration, and you stifled a laugh. Of course Richie loved Eddie and not you. It might’ve made your heart sink a little in your chest, but it was easier for you to now decide who to go after.

Or so you thought.

That night, after drinking and getting high in Richie’s backyard while his parents were away, you couldn’t stop thinking about his dark, curly hair or Bill’s nonstop attention on you. You had slept over Richie’s again, not wanting your parents to see you so inebriated. Richie was still wearing off the effects of his high, cuddling up to your side as a movie played on the VCR that his parents had in the living room. He was rambling on about how pretty everyone had looked today.

“Did you see Eds’ hair?” he asked incredulously. “It was so blonde today. Maybe it was the sun, but...” He snuggled closer to you, his head finding it’s way into the crook of your neck. Your heart raced at how close he was. Yeah, you guys had cuddled before, but this just felt different. You were about to reach out and grab his hand, but then soft snoring filled your ears.

“Fuck,” you mumbled, feeling his hands move to splay over your hip and pull you closer. You were in deep, for the both of them.

——————

The loud party music from inside the house made you whine as you cuddled into Richie’s side, one of his arms around you and the other around Eddie. Richie looked down to you at the small noise, rubbing your shoulder and covering your other ear as he realized you were sensitive to the sound.

“Richieee,” you whined loudly as you clawed at his chest. “Take me home.” You gave him puppy dog eyes as he shook his head, making you pout in despair.

“I can’t just take you home,” he said softly into your ear, leaving a kiss on your temple before continuing to talk. “Eds and Bill need a ride home, too, and only Mike and I have cars.”

You looked over to where your tipsy mind last remembered seeing Mike, and he was still over there, watching over the very drunk Stan and Bev, both of which who were screaming along to the music. Bill was with them before noticing you looking in that direction, and he staggered over to you. He sat down next to you, pulling you from Richie’s grasp and holding you in his lap. Your arms went around his waist, and you stuck your head into his neck.

“Y-you tired, (Y-Y-Y/N)?” he asked softly, seeming almost sober. He hadn’t had anything to drink that night, but he did have a joint or two and his eyes were a pinkish color. “We sh-should get R-Rich to take us ho-ho-home.”

“I already tried,” you said with a bite in your voice, sighing as you snuggled into him. “He’s just being an asshole.”

“L-let’s walk h-home,” he said softly, standing up before leaning down, motioning toward his back. You shook your head ‘no’, Bill’s face falling slightly at your rejection. “O-okay, then. Y-you just g-gonna wait for R-Richie?”

“Yeah, I was gonna sleep over again,” you mumbled softly, sighing when you looked into his sad green eyes. “My parents can’t see me like this.”

“Y-yeah, I-I guess th-they c-c-can’t,” Bill answered, giving you a tiny wave before going around to the Losers and saying his goodbyes. Your eyes met his again as he walked out the side gate of the yard, slamming it behind him as his shoulders slumped. Richie tapped your shoulder, opening his arm and letting you snuggle into his side. Eddie has run off to dance with Bev and Stan, and you snickered at him tripping over his own feet.

“Why’d Bill leave?” Richie asked you, looking down at you before running his hand over the top of your head and kissing your forehead gently.

“He said that he wanted to leave,” you said back, leaning up into the kiss, the slight upward movement with you head cause your brain to feel like it sloshed around in your skull. You groaned, cuddling into Richie again as he sighed.

“I’ll go get Eddie.” He squeezed your waist before standing up and walking over to a stumbling Eddie. Stan and Bev came running up to him with Eddie, Stan fussing with the collar of Richie’s shirt. A few minutes later, Eddie was trailing behind Richie with a pout on his face and a hand on Richie’s shoulder, steadying himself. Richie picked you up by the waist, holding his arm there until he could get you to the car. You weren’t completely drunk anymore, the three or four beers had started to wear off, but you were still a little high from the joint or two that Bill had smoked near you and blew into your face.

“Rich?” you mumbled as he got into the car, checking the backseat to make sure Eddie was okay while you sat next to him in the passenger’s seat. He hummed, looking back at you with a tiny smile on his face. “Can I sleep with you in your bed tonight instead of on the couch? So we can cuddle?” He chuckled lightly, nodding his head and placing a hand on your thigh to gently squeeze it.

“Of course, doll,” he answered back softly, pulling away and starting the car. He drive to Eddie’s first. His mom was away for the week so that meant he could let loose a little and not worry about consequences.

“Bye Eds,” you said with a soft smile, Richie helping him inside. You could see Eddie’s bedroom light turn on, and you knew that Richie was helping him get ready for bed in a calm manner. You knew Richie wouldn’t have left him there by himself because of how caring and loving he was towards his friends, but Eddie didn’t like sleeping at other people’s houses besides Bill’s. You sat and watched the lights in the house turn on and off as Richie went into a left other rooms, probably getting Eddie water and Aspirin for the morning. A few moments later, all the lights shut off, and the front door opened, Richie’s lanky body walking out of it with a bit of a tired limp. He came into the car, sighing and sitting down in the driver’s seat.

“He’s tiring when he’s drunk,” Richie said with an exaggerated sigh, looking over at you with a smile on his face. You smiled back, noticing the glimmer in his eye when you did. He traced his eyes over your body quickly, not caring that you knew he was doing it. He sighed heavily, turning around in his seat and starting the car back up, putting his hand on your thigh and squeezing. You cleared your throat, looking down at his hand.

“R-Richie-“ He cut you off with a chuckle.

“I see the way you look at me,” he said softly, turning the corner onto his street. “The cuddling, the eyes. It might not mean more than just you think I’m attractive, which is fine, but-“

“Richie, I have a crush on Bill,” you blurted out, watching the way his face went from confident to skeptical as he pulled up the front of his house.

“Well you’re staying the night,” he started, taking his hand from your thigh as you both got out. He came around to your side of the car, caging you in against it as you looked at him with wide eyes. Richie’s face was inches from yours, and he raised his eyebrows. “Can...can I-“

You didn’t give him the chance to finish before you leaned up and planted your lips onto his hungrily, the only illumination being the streetlight across the street that was flickering on and off incessantly.

“Inside?” you mumbled against his lips. He nodded, lifting you up so you could wrap your legs around his waist. One of his hands was kneading your ass, the other fishing for his house key since his parents were away visit Went’s parents for the weekend. He unlocked the door with you still in his arms, slamming it shut and running up the stairs before you even realized you were inside. Richie threw you on his bed, slipping off your shoes aggressively as he pushed his off.

“Mm, you’re so pretty like this,” Richie mumbled as he climbed on top of you, kissing your neck gently as he messed with the bit of your bra strap that was peeking out of your shirt. He hungrily kisses your lips as he reached under your shirt to undo your bra, earning a moan from you. He decided to pull off your shirt first, smiling at you as you sat up and raised your arms above your head. He admired for you for what felt like hours, eyes tracing down your body as he smiled gently.

“You gonna get me naked and fuck me, Tozier?” you teased, brining one of your hands up to softly run against his chest.

“You...you have a crush on Bill, though. I should...I should-“

“Don’t stop,” you begged loudly, tightening your legs around his hips. “I want you right now. Please?” Your puppy dog eyes had Richie melting immediately. He growled, ripping off his shirt before working on getting you naked, the whole time trailing kisses down your body, worshipping you.

“Are you sure?” he asked one last time, looking deep into your eyes as he massaged his hand over your side.

“Yes, Rich,” you begged, writhing underneath him. “Please.” He dove into your lips, kissing them and nipping at them, his hands roaming as you arched into his touch.

——————

You woke up to a soft creaking, and you felt arms tighten around you right after it. You looked up to see the underside of Richie’s face, his jaw clenching at the same sound that had awoken her.

“Rich, are you-“ Bev’s voice rang through the room and stopped abruptly, noticing you in bed with him. You jolted upright, wrapping the comforter further around you as Richie groaned at your sudden movement and Bev’s voice.

“I’m up, I’m up,” he said groggily, his arm still around your waist as he sat up with you. “Get out so we can get dressed.”

“W-we?” Bill asked as he barged into the room. His face dropped into a scowl when he saw you there, and he mumbled something to himself before walking out of the room. His pounding footsteps could be heard going down the staircase and out the front door.

“Can...can you guys wait for us outside?” you meekly asked, rubbing your hands over your face as you heard the retreating footsteps. “Richie, I fucking told you we shouldn’t have done this.”

“Babe, you weren’t complaining,” he says with a cocky tone. “Besides, it’s not like you’re dating Bill.”

You leaped out of his bed at that, grabbing your jeans and underwear off the floor and sliding them on. You searched for you shirt angrily, not being able to find it, so you went into his drawers and pulled out one. You threw it on, tying it up in the back since it was a little long. He came up behind you, softly placing his hand on your shoulder before you jerked away.

“I have a crush on Bill,” you said with a bit of bite in your voice. “Not you, Richie. Bill. And I can’t believe I slept with you!”

“(Y/N), you wanted-“ Richie’s voice was calm and collected, the complete opposite of your abrasive and loud voice.

“I fucking know I wanted it, asshole,” you screamed. “But I want Bill. I want everything with Bill. I’m sorry if you have feelings for me, but they’re not reciprocated.”

You grabbed your shoes from for the floor, slipping them on before you marched out of Richie’s house angrily, passing all of the Losers. Bill sat on the curb outside the house, and he gave you a sad look as you passed him.

“Wh-where are you g-going?” he asked confused, gesturing towards the others.

“Home,” you yelled back. “I’ll see you guys later.” You felt Bill’s eyes on the back of your neck as you walked away. The sound of Richie’s front door slamming made you look back again. You saw him run his hand through his hair as he searched for you, but by the time he had looked over to where you were walking, you had turned onto the next block.

#bill denbrough smut #bill denbrough headcanons #bill denbrough x reader #richie tozier smut #richie tozier x reader #richie tozier headcanons #mike hanlon x reader #beverly marsh x reader #ben hanscom x reader #eddie kaspbrak x reader #stanley uris x reader #it chapter one imagines #it chapter two imagines #masterlist

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blizzardfluffykpop · 3 years

Text

The Ko’s Arcade

Summary: Falling for the arcade owner’s son is a lot easier than you think.

[He would probably propose to you with a vending machine ring ngl very cute tho].

Do or Not Series

Fluff

Word Count: 2,843

Shinwon X Reader

I’ve been going to the arcade on the outskirts of the city for years. To the point where Mr. Ko knows my whole family, considering they were the ones to start bringing me here. My parents thought I would stop going to The Ko’s Arcade when I was a seventh-grader at the latest. But here I am, almost out of college and still going at least once a week. Who knows, there might be a new game there? Or better yet, they have a new prize to win. Or a new thing to get at the vending machine. It’s a reward after a long week of courses, tests, and my job. The stress relief of beating Donkey Kong at his own game is the best feeling. But it not only those, maybe it’s because Mr. Ko’s son Shinwon is working there now? Yeah,... about that,... I may have a slight crush on him,... May.

“You’re going to that silly arcade again?” My mom asks, and I nod, “It’s Sunday, so yeah.” She shrugs and tells me to enjoy myself and to tell Mr. Ko ‘hi’. I ride my bike over to the arcade, and for the next five hours, I am going to play some games and unwind. And possibly sneak a peek at the cute guy who runs the prize station. The bells ring above the door as I walk in and spot a few kids playing different games. Shinwon goes, “Welcome back to The Ko’s Arcade!” I grin and wave at him and walk to the back to find Q*Bert. After eight levels and three different tries to get up to the ninth level. I give up as I hop on the snake by accident again. I decide it’s not worth the hassle and get a pop from the vending machine.

While looking around for another game. I catch Shinwon playing a two-player racing game by himself. Working up my confidence, I make my way over to him and challenge him to the next round. He smirks, “Alright. What’s the reward if we win.” I scrunch up my nose and think for a moment before it hits me. I need fifty more tickets to win the giant stuffed animal I have been eyeing. I rarely play the games that spit out tickets, so it is harder to earn than you would believe. “If I win, I want the big stuffed animal you guys have behind the counter.” He nods and tells me, “If I win,... the next time you hit the high score on Donkey Kong, you have to write my name.” I scoff, “Of course,... it has to be my title you are after.” He laughs, and I grin, “So is it a deal?” I nod, and we both shake hands.

Let’s just say the game did not go as I expected. I expected to be at least in second place, if not in first. Let me say, Shinwon had some tricks up his sleeves and knew the track better than I did. Considering this was my second time playing this game, and probably his fiftieth. I ended up in last place in the first two races, and by the third, I was finally in seventh place. Shinwon moved around in numbers going from second to fifth to first. There goes my Donkey Kong high score title, I’ll miss it, but at least I’ll know that it’s me that has the highest. Mr. Ko will be in shock that my high score got taken by Shinwon. When everyone knows he is awful at the game like I am with racing games. I pout over him as the last race finishes up and totals our scores. He laughs, and in a teasing voice, he goes, “Did someone lose?” I pout and nod my head as he smiles over at me before he types in the winner. I don’t look at who’s name he types in till it circles back to the leaderboard. And printed in bold red letters is (Y/n). He winks at me and helps me out of the chair.

He walks us over to the prize counter and reaches underneath, and pulls out a clip-on stuffed animal. He hands it over to me with a smile playing on his face. I grin at him as I realize it’s a little monkey. “Here, I had an unfair advantage on that racing game. Plus, your favorite game is dad’s favorite so,...” I thank him and put the monkey on my belt loop with a big smile on my face. I tell him to give me one second, and I race over to my backpack. And take the hot wheel car pin off of it and hand it to him. The one I had won at the arcade years before, “You suit the title of the best arcade racer better than I do.” He gasps, “My dad hasn’t carried these for years! They went out so fast that I didn’t get a chance to win one!” I grin and pin it to his green and white striped jacket. “Well, here you go. You deserve it.” It’s his turn to blush, and we give each other a fist bump before I make my way over to Donkey Kong.

Three hours later, I hit the high score again. He comes over as I’m about to hit enter. “You don’t have to put my name as the high score, by the way.” He tells me, and I turn around to look at him and hit the enter button as I shake my head. “Yeah, but a deal is a deal. By next Sunday, I’ll have your score blown out of the water anyway.” He smiles, “I’ll gloat while I have the chance then.” I grin, “You go for it, King Kong.” He laughs as he says, “Whatever you say, Speed Racer!” I laugh and grab my backpack and make my way out. “I’ll see you next Sunday?” I ask, and he tells me, “Couldn’t miss it.” My heart is pounding by the time I leave.

Next Sunday, like clockwork, my mom tells me to have fun at the arcade. But weirdly, it isn’t Shinwon standing behind the counter to greet me it’s Mr. Ko. “Good Morning, Mr. Ko!” I exclaim, and he goes, “Ah! Good Morning, (Y/n)! Bright and early like usual!” He notices me looking around for Shinwon, and he says, “If you’re looking for Shinwon, he’s in the back. He’s getting ready to put a new game out.” I nod as he points to the back room, and I decide to go back there.

I open the door and don’t spot Shinwon, but spot some old classics I grew up playing. Like my mom’s favorite Pong. When that went out of order, she stopped coming in. Or Ms. Pacman, my dad’s favorite. I hope someday they will come back out on the floor. As I head further in, I see Shinwon struggling with a cardboard box, and I can’t help the giggle the falls from my lips. He whips his head around in my direction, I wave, and he smiles at me, “Here to help?” I shrug, “Am I getting paid?” He rolls his eyes, “Depends if you’re good to help.” “And if I’m good help?” He smirks, “We’ll see.” I shake my head as I place my book bag down and try to see what he’s doing. “Usually, the boxes come off easier, but this particular game is a special order so,... it’s packaged weirdly.” I nod and grab the box cutter he was using and slice down the side carefully. We pull on either side, and it still doesn’t give. After a few minutes of figuring out the best approach, we agree on ripping the box open. When we get it open, he asks, “What do you think?” I grin, "This is gonna be fun." He smiles as I take a closer look at it. Unlike the classics that are stand to play, there are chairs for you to sit and play on the tabletop arcade. On the instructions, it contains a bunch of old classics that no longer inhabit the place: like Pong, Asteroids, and Centipede. I help him wheel it out, and we each grab the two metal chairs and bring them over. He plugs it in and says, “I challenge you to Centipede!” I smirk, “You know I’m a pro at the classics!” He shrugs, “Are you?”

Two hours later, after playing the different games, he has to return to the counter. Five kids walked up to the register with a bunch of tickets. His dad went home after we came out of the backroom, which left him to run the ticket counter. I watch him from afar and see how kind he is with the kids, and my heart melts a little. I remember being that age and rushing up to the counter to see what I could get. Or if I needed more to get what I want. Hoping that I would have enough time for one more game before my parents came. That Mr. Ko would let me have the prize although I was off by a few tickets. It seems that Shinwon is no different in that department; the one kid was off by five, and he still handed him the fifty-ticket item. I smile to myself. How could I ever get tired of this place? It’s filled with my childhood memories and,... Shinwon.

As I watch him, I realize I’m in deep with my feelings for him. From his smile to his aura, I can’t help but fall more and more for him each second. He comes back over to me and says, “Sorry about that--” I cut him off, “Don’t be, we were both kids once.” He smiles, and I continue, “It was cute how you cared for them. You reminded me of your dad--” He groans, “Ah man, not my dad!” I shake my head and laugh, “Your dad is like the coolest and sweetest--.” He smirks, “Are you trying to say you find me cute and sweet?” I roll my eyes, “I was going to finish my sentence with ‘old man’. But I mean if the shoe fits--.” He shakes his head, and I laugh. I squeeze the little monkey he gave me that is hanging off of my belt loop. And I notice the pin I gave him is still in the same spot. He notices the monkey is still on me. He smiles, “I see you still are wearing the little guy.” I smile, “It seems you still have the pin.”

Five more games against Shinwon, and it’s time for me to go home. I start to bid him goodbye when he goes, “Before you go, I know I’m going to regret it if I never ask you. Would you want to go on a date with me sometime? It's okay if you don't want to!” I turn around and look him in the eyes and ask if he is for real. He nods, and I grin, “I would love to, when and where?” He taps his chin with his first finger in thought and goes, “Would the pizza parlor uptown be good?” I nod, “I believe so, around six pm tomorrow?” He nods, “I get off at five, so I can pick you at six?” I nod, “Sounds good to me, King Kong.” He laughs, and I bid him goodbye, and he yells after me, “See ya later, Speed Racer!” My heart is beating out of its chest as I race home. The butterflies in my stomach are unbearable, “I have a date with my crush, Ko Shinwon, tomorrow!” I don’t realize I yelled that out loud until my dad let out an, “Um??” I laugh and scratch the back of my neck, “So uh, when were you going to tell us that? Is that why you always go to the arcade?” I shrug, “Partly, but I also have to defend my title as the champion of Donkey Kong.” He laughs, “Well, I trust you two, but be back home at a reasonable time.” I nod and race to my room, throw my head into the pillow and squeal about it.

At 6 pm sharp, I hear a knock on my door, and I race over to it. I bid my parents goodbye after slipping on my shoes and head out with Shinwon. When we reach the pizza place, he asks, “Are you any good at card games?” I grin and nod my head as we slip into a booth. He pulls out a deck of cards and deals them out. “I challenge you to a game of War!” By the time the waiter comes over to take our order, we are in a heated battle. We only break our concertation to order the pizza and our two drinks. Before we are back in action, firing cards at one another to see who will come out on top. Unlike the last time with the racing game, I come out on top. “I win!” He groans and dramatically falls back into the seat. I laugh, and he smiles as I choose the next game like Rummy, and he pulls a pad of paper out of his deep pockets. “How deep are your pockets in the jacket?!” He grins, “I can hide a whole lot of movie theatre snacks in these babies.” We laugh as we start up the game. We finish the game coming out as a tie with a perfect 500 on either side. “I guess that means we’re even.” I wink at him, “Not for long.” He smirks at me as I grab a pizza slice from the pan. “May the best player win!” He exclaims when we shake hands before we devour our pizza.

“Winner gets a kiss on the lips!” Shinwon exclaims, and I blush, “Alright but be prepared to lose!” I tell him with confidence. He grins, “Either way, I’m a winner.” Thirty minutes and three pizza slices later, I win the card game. I blush as I realize what’s going to happen. He wipes his hands off on a paper towel. I push the pizza pan to the side, and he reaches over the table. I meet him halfway as he puts his hand underneath my chin and places a chaste kiss on my lips. Before he can get away, I pull him back in for another kiss. “I’ve wanted to do that for a while, King Kong.” I sigh as we pull away, and he grins, “So have I, Speed Racer.” I hide my face behind the cards and blush. He laughs at me and pulls the cards down, “You’re cute.” I give him a small smile and tell him, “I think you’re cuter!”

Three games full of laughter [a few kisses] and two pizza pans later, we’re, finally, worn out. We walk out of the parlor, and right outside is a small vending machine that flattens coins and stamps them. We rush over to it, thinking the same thing. Luckily, I have two pennies in my pocket as I slip one in and type Speed Racer in cursive on the machine. When it comes out with a hole punch on the top for a necklace chain, I hand it over to him. “So whenever I’m not around, I’m always with you.” He grins and puts it in his jean pocket, “Okay! My turn!” He makes mine, and when it comes out of the machine, he hands it over to me. Placing my hand over it so I don’t see it at first. I open my hands to see a few goofy little smiles on it. And in big block letters, it says, ‘King Kong’. I grin and place it in my jean pocket as he tells me, “It keeps me close to you. I think I like you.” I grin, and peck his cheek, “I think I like you too.” He places his hand over his cheek and throws his arm over my shoulder. Before he places, a big kiss on my cheek. I can’t help but laugh as we walk home together.

When we reach my house, I go, “Do you want to go to the movie theaters next time?” Shinwon grins at me, and I continue, “Well, I got to see how many snacks we can sneak in with those pockets!” He laughs, and before he parts to his house, I kiss him. He kisses me back, and when we part, it feels bittersweet, “I’ll see you soon?” I nod, and he leaves as I go inside, I hear a loud, “WOOHOO!” And I can’t help but laugh because I have the funniest and cutest date possible. I cannot wait for Sunday,... Maybe I’ll see him before that. I tell my whole family, filled with excitement, “So are you going tomorrow to see him?” I grin at my mom, and I nod happily, “I think so.”

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sneezehq · 4 years

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Family Talk

"Yang is a great mom. She raised me, after all."

Written for a prompt by hunnyB on AO3: "It would be cute to see something like Ruby talking proudly about her sister to her teammates and friends and Yang opening about their past. I like to see people looking at Yang with a sad-surprised face. Or maybe Ruby telling everyone Yang is basically a mother to her, and Yang tears up and everyone is surprised."

I took way longer writing this than I should have, because I kept fussing with when I should set it, until I finally gave up and went ahead and set this sometime in the future, when Salem is defeated and they're all happy and safe and share an apartment together and they all live happily ever after. And, since it's sometimes hard to get Ruby to talk about things, I decided to loosen Ruby's tongue a bit, so have a doped-up post wisdom teeth surgery Ruby. (Also because I thought it'd be adorable if the first thing Ruby does while on painkillers is talk about how awesome her older sister is.) Enjoy!

"We're back!" Yang calls over her shoulder, nudging the door shut behind her until she hears it close with a loud click. She turns to set the bags she's carrying on the counter—and immediately has to lunge forwards to keep her sister from faceplanting into the tile. "Rubes, we just got back from the doctor. Please try to avoid braining yourself for now."

"Whatever, mom," Ruby mumbles, words slightly slurred. Yang steadies her with a hand on her shoulder and steers her over to the couch.

"Here, lie down before you fall down," she says, nudging Ruby onto the couch. Her sister flops onto the cushions, giggling loudly.

Blake smiles fondly, finally looking up from her book. "How'd it go?" she calls from the armchair, absently flipping to the next page.

"Everything went fine, the surgery went smoothly, all that good stuff," Yang replies. "She'll be sore for the next few days, but we're all stocked up on soup and ice cream and stuff for smoothies, so she should be fine."

"You're lucky, Blake," Weiss teases from the doorway. "Yang's already preparing for when you two have kids. She's going to be a great mom."

Both Blake and Yang blush furiously at Weiss' comment. Yang attempts to head back to the kitchen, but she's stopped by a hand on her arm. "Come sit with me," Ruby whines. "I'm cold. Wan' snuggles."

"Ruby, I need to put the ice cream away before it melts," Yang sighs, attempting to pull herself free.

But despite being hopped up on strong painkillers, her sister's grip doesn't budge. "Please, Yang?"

"I'll take care of the ice cream," Weiss offers, strolling over to the collection of grocery bags on the counter. "You know how she gets when she's like this. She's not going to shut up until you sit with her."

"Fine, fine," Yang says, nudging Ruby over to make room on the couch. "Thanks, Weiss. Happy now?" she asks her sister.

Ruby nods into Yang's thigh, having arranged herself with her head in her sister's lap. Yang smiles fondly, running a hand through her sister's hair. "How're you feeling?"

"Mouth hurts. Tired. M' head feels weird."

"Yeah, you're not gonna be feeling too great for the next few days. Why don't you take a nap?" Yang suggests. "Sleep off the worst of it. You can have some ice cream when you wake up."

The younger girl, frowns, shaking her head. "Don' wanna sleep," she complains.

"Could've told you it wouldn't be that easy," Weiss says, settling herself into the chair across from Blake. Ruby frowns at her. "What's wrong?"

"What you said. Before. Yang is a great mom." Ruby looks directly at Weiss, suddenly seeming free of her medicated haze. "She raised me, after all."

Silence falls over the room, as the reactions from the other girls vary. Blake has a knowing look on her face, but she also seems very sad all of a sudden. Yang looks embarrassed. Weiss has a curious expression on her face. "What are you talking about, Ruby?"

"Dad wasn't around much, when we were kids," Ruby mumbles. Blake and Weiss lean closer to hear her better. "So, Yang took care of us. She'd read stories to me before bed, and help me with my homework, and packed lunches, and she even cooked for us. She was always there for me."

Their teammates look at the pair of sisters with a mixture of awe and sadness. They'd both known that the two were close, but they'd never had a chance to see why they were so close—or just how deep that bond between them ran.

"Ruby, we don't have to talk about this now," Yang says hastily, bowing her head so that her face is hidden behind a curtain of blonde hair. Even with her face covered, it's impossible to miss the way that she'd blushing.

Ruby shakes her head. "No, I wanna talk about it. You're so awesome and you do so much for me, but you never want me to tell anyone about it," she whines, trying to push herself up to a sitting position.

"Ok, ok, don't get all worked up while you still have stitches in your mouth," Yang scolds her, gently pressing on her shoulders until Ruby gives in and lays back down. "I just can't believe that you'd want to compliment me after living off of my cooking for so long."

Ruby blinks up at her, a fond but slightly dopey smile on her face. "It wasn' that bad."

"It wasn't great, though," Yang points out.

"We're still alive." Ruby gives a lazy half-shrug. "We did eat a lot of sandwiches, though."

"After all these years you're still complaining about that? I'll have you know that sandwiches are very healthy. You've got bread and meat and boom, both your basic food groups. If you're feeling adventurous you can even add some lettuce. Then you've even got veggies. I rest my case. Sandwiches are the ultimate food."

Ruby giggles loudly, before her face splits with a wide yawn. "Yang? I'm tired." Her eyes fall shut, and within seconds she's snoring.

"Finally," Yang lets out a sigh of relief.

Weiss shakes her head incredulously. "Those painkillers are really strong, too. I've never seen anyone be able to fight them like that."

"It's sheer willpower," Blake says softly. "Ruby is the most determined person I've ever met. I guess it shouldn't that surprising."

"Oh, she's stubborn alright," Yang agrees. "You should have seen her as a little kid. She was determined to get into everything. I lost track of her every time I turned around. And once she developed her semblance? Good luck keeping up with the kid with super speed!" She laughs cheerfully, but her expression is still pensive.

"I hadn't realized," Blake says, a distant look on her face. "That you two were so close. You told me a little bit about your family, when we were back at Beacon, but it never occurred to me how much responsibility you took on as a child."

"And you told me, back at Haven, about how your mom left, and you lost Ruby's mom too, but I didn't realize, even then, how hard that must have been on you." Weiss looks guilty. She wraps her arms around herself. "I'm sorry I kept asking about it. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm not upset," Yang says softly. "I'm just—I'm not really used to talking about it, that's all. It's not really something I try to think about too much. It's a little easier these days, since I've got you guys, but it's still hard to think about how my dad was after we lost Summer. He just kind of—shut down. Don't get me wrong, he was still there, he still made sure we had food in the house, and he had Qrow check in on us when he could. But he was busy with school, so." She sighs heavily. "I just did what anyone would have, in our situation. Someone had to take care of us, and make sure that Ruby grew up okay. I don't think that I did anything special, honestly."

"But you did," Weiss says firmly. "Trust me, Yang, what you did was very special. Most people in your situation would have just given up. They definitely wouldn't have tried as hard as you did. You're an amazing older sister and Ruby adores you."

"You should be proud of yourself," Blake murmurs. "Not only did you raise an amazing little sister, but you didn't turn out too bad yourself. Not only did you handle a very difficult set of circumstances beautifully, but you even came out the other side smiling. Not many people can say that."

"Thanks, guys," Yang whispers, wiping away the tear tracks on her face with a watery smile. They sit in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. Across from her, her girlfriend has settled back in her chair, reabsorbed in her book. Weiss is messing with the remote, trying to see if anything good is on. And Ruby is snoring softly, laying half-cured with her head in Yang's lap. After all these years, they still fit together perfectly.

"I couldn't ask for a better family."

#rwby #strawberry sunrise #yang xiao long #ruby rose #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #hurt/comfort #fanfic #my writing

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jess-the-vampire · 3 years

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Sky And The Forces Of The Multiverse, Chapter 47

Previous / Next:

"So what do you think angel?".

Sky motioned to the platters of food that were nearly finished, having prepped the chefs and even helped out with, lexi adding final touches wherever she wanted, much to the chef's dismay. Angel of course seemed super tired and still stressed, as if thinking any small thing could ruin the whole entire night and mess things up with the king of spider monsters.

His dad wasn't cruel, he was no toffee or shastacan.

But the disappointment was enough to scare him.

He never used to care about this before, but now...it was always on his mind, taking over it. He nervously looked over what they had prepared, his father was coming in a few minutes, he wasn't dressed because they had been occupied with getting the dining hall ready and checking and changing the dinner options...5 times, they had wasted so much time and angel still wasn't sure they got things right.

"I...I'm not sure...maybe-".

"Angel...we don't have much time left, we spent hours getting stuff ready...we gotta get you changed...we're going to have to go with this...", she wasn't saying it to be mean, but angel didn't have time to be picky right now, especially if he wanted to have anything ready at all for his father. She patted his back to reassure him and ask if there was anything else he wanted to add to the meal his father would like.

But he only shook his head, disappointed but knowing she was right and they had to get moving.

"Let's go get changed...", his voice sounded defeated as he waved to marco before heading his way out, followed by sky who also waved to the demon queen, "Just don't be long, we'll be calling everyone to dinner very soon, remember he's not the only new guest we have here tonight". They gave her a knowing look and sky felt a fit in her stomach at remembering her grandma was finally coming over.

"I'm surprised you're so calm", he mumbled to the butterfly princess.

"Hmm?".

Angel turned to face her, "Your grandma is coming over and you're acting like it's not a big deal at all, you're not panicking over food, what you're going to wear...you're the complete opposite of me...". Sky was actually nervous even if he didn't think she looked it, but at the same time this event wasn't exactly about impressing her or proving anything to her so she had little reason to freak...as much.

There were other reasons to worry about her grandma that involved stuff outside of sky herself.

Whatever was really happening was more between her grandma...and her mom, less so about sky, her own mom had way more of a reason to be packing just as bad as angel was at the moment. Her grandma could be soft and sweet but also strict and scary if she wanted to be, not to mention pretty overbearing, she seemed to think at times she knew better then others.

Which of course, did not work for the current queen at all.

She had been trying to keep her mom out of her work for as long as she could, and now she was coming and there was nothing more she could do to convince the former queen to turn back to her retirement. She was coming and it would take more then usual to get her to turn back and away from the mess she had come to help try and fix where her daughter had failed.

Moon had gotten involved with sky being queen...a little, but her main focus was usually on her own daughter, after all...her daughter was meant to be the one teaching sky in the first place. So if she had to butt in and do star's job for her that wasn't good on star herself, though sky would argue this made moon look just as bad when it came to teaching star in the first place.

Anyways, she hated to even be involved during their bickering with stuff like this, she was lucky so far her life involved a lot less of it then she could've had. Being involved in the drama of two adults is a lot like being involved in the drama of two annoying teenagers, and sky had the urge to ask landon to borrow some of his headphones just to be safe.

"Well...guess i don't stress as much about making a good impression...most of the time, even when people were treating me like garbage i never really put on a fake persona and look to impress them so i guess it's just something i don't do", sky shrugged and tugged the prince along further, "But i mean, you got it way worse then me right now so that also probably makes a difference...".

"This feels like something a child would do after breaking one of their parent's things...doesn't it?".

"I guess you can say that yeah".

He hid his face within his hands, red, "You must think i seem like a real fool right now, you keep trying to reassure me and i keep freaking out about it and i just can't help it..." and that's when sky held out her hand, him taking it...still embarrassed. "It's fine, i'm not making fun of you for it...i get it, this whole thing is kinda important to you...you're going to be ok".

"I need to breathe more often...".

"It's still a learning process, you'll get used to it...hopefully, c'mon let's just get you dressed before you melt into the floor", she tugged him along as they made it to her room, which of course, was very much guarded still, angel awkwardly sat on the bed as sky headed inside her own wardrobe. "I'm assuming you're personally not into dresses so we'll rule that out for now, besides, i don't think any of my dresses will work with your back legs anyway".

Angel touched one of them in response.

"Good call".

"Now what i DO have is some stuff i was going to give to judas for his coronation, i started working on clothes ideas and these are mostly scrapped...i haven't had a ton of time to work on them exactly...but i nearly forgot i had been working on a few things for him...so maybe you can wear one...if you want to that is...if not i got other stuff in here...".

"Such as?".

She walked out holding a leather jacket and jeans.

"I mean, look, i dunno what exactly is your style outside of fancy stuff...but you could try...?", angel stared at the clothing with uncertainty, he still clearly didn't know what he wanted to do with his appearance and he had little time to think about it. Sky placed the clothes on the bed, "Hey...look...you can do whatever you wanna do...just make sure it's something you want to do...".

He took a minute to really think about it, nodding his head as he softly spoke.

"Well...leather might not really be me...but...you...have any sweaters in there? That might be more my speed...but...i'll wear a shirt under it and um...I'm ok wearing one of jude's jackets...", something about how he said it made sky smile, he seemed actually happy with his own choice. A choice made by him for him and not to please his father or anyone in particular.

"Sounds good, i can find that for you, you can shower real quick and we'll be good to go".

"What about you?".

She turned to face him, "I'll be fine as is...promise, you just need to worry about yourself and what you wanna say when your dad finally arrives, that's WAY more of a concern. You can think about it more in the shower and everything...". Angel glanced at the clothes and drawings sky and sunny had been working on earlier, clearly being reminded of the upcoming plans.

But he didn't say anything, instead sky fetched what he needed and he was quickly shoved into the closest nearby royal bathroom. What emerged soon later as a fresher smelling prince of the Arachmen, wearing a collared shift with a sweater and jacket overtop, he still had some nice shows and pants on but he seemed quite comfortable, his hair tired back behind him but a lot looser then it used to.

"How do i look?", he held out his arms and spun around to show the princess all of his angels, just to make sure he wasn't missing anything.

"Like a goober".

"What?".

"You look great, trust me, but tell me how you feel about it?".

He looked down at himself, adjusting his sweater, "Well...i feel...warm...and...comfortable".

"Perfect".

"You really seem to care about...me liking this stuff...don't you?", she shrugged as she brushed his sweater to make sure there weren't any loose hairs on him, "Well i mean, as someone who got annoyed at my parents telling me not to wear my hat for fun events, i'm not the person that's gonna force you one way or another...i just want you to like...be comfortable being yourself...and being that way to other people".

He softened at that as they made their way to the dining hall, to meet up with everyone. Most of everyone did seem to be there, though the most notable absent ones were judas, landon, celeste, her other mom, and...mason? She saw Queen Lucitor dressed up nearby in a rather radiant looking dress before approaching, still tugging angel along, guess angel wasn't the only one who decided to dress up real quick before dinner.

"Hey...where's-?".

"Judas? Off taking some time for himself still...hopefully he'll rejoin us soon, he's being kept company by katrina right now actually, she called in a bit ago. As for mason, he's still with fae and janna, they'll be a little late to eat, and well...landon and celeste are apparently visiting luna right now...so i'm not sure how long they'll be there but sadly we don't have time to retrieve them all...we'll just have to check in on them at dinner".

"Wait...visiting luna? Why in the heck would either of those grumps even want to be in the same room as her right now?", but she didn't have the time to question it, as here came her mom, in a rather nice golden dress and fixing her crown as she ran past her own daughter and into the dining room, the heavily armed guards quick to get out of her way.

"Guess Grandma's here...".

And sure enough, as sky turned around, followed by a few more guards came a new flowing figure with silvery hair tied back in a braid, wearing a blue gown with a cape, and with diamond marks that matched her heavy makeup. Angel was stuck in place, unable to move, and sky followed, stiff as a board upon her arrival, now wishing she had changed her clothing.

"Hello Skyler".

And before sky could say more she noticed another figure approaching and if the situation didn't make it obvious enough, the spider legs did. King Amir ArachFord striding his way next to the former queen, standing in place, looking rather nice all things considered, guards nearby holding gifts for most likely his wife as he looked at the group who had been waiting for their arrival.

Angel looked like he might actually have fainted.

"Hello Angelus.".

"Hello...fath...dad".

This was going to one hell of an awkward evening.

"We outta do this with fae more often...", janna smirked, way too pleased with herself as the mole man trembled in his seat just looking at fae. Ever since the girl had come into the room everything had gone from bad to worse, the lights broke, his chair broke, a rock fell from the ceiling and hit him on the head, he fell over a dozen times, it was eerie to say the least.

Something about the little girl was off, and yet somehow, the other small demon in the room seemed so unfazed, sitting and cheering her on.

In fact everyone was unfazed but him.

The downside to working with her was well, she was a wild card, there was a high chance something bad to could happen to any of them, though the difference was he was alone, they were not. Fae didn't want to accidentally hurt mason but she wanted his companionship in this situation, she would've felt way more uncomfortable without a face she was used to helping her out.

She had never considered her cruse to be much more then an annoyance at least, burden at worst, being asked to put it to use had been an...interesting idea she never considered before. Though she did feel a little uneasy interrogating anyone, she wasn't exactly sure about this guy much and even with her abilities and protection...who knows what her powers might do.

Might make things worse.

But janna seemed confident, jackie writing in her notepad as janna lured around their prisoner.

"You really voluntarily decided to work for a criminal? I mean i get the appeal and everything but you made a bad choice in working with the one who nearly hurt my kid", nearby jackie sighed and shook her head, janna never changed did she? "I mean, sure she's super scary and everything, but you didn't even think to turn her into us? Woulda saved us a lot of work".

"Look, i had no idea she was a criminal, i told you, our kingdom barely knew about all of this...ok? She showed up, needed a place to stay, i had that old chamber and she stayed...that was it".

"You knew she was doing bad stuff though", Jackie added, "Otherwise you wouldn't have reacted the way you did in the bar when the queens and king confronted you, you keep denying you knew the full extent but you clearly knew something more you haven't told us about...there's no way you didn't know something, she had a child locked up down there for hours...and you ran from us when we tried to arrest you...".

"Well i-".

"If you are as innocent as you claim you're certainly not making yourself out to look that way to any extent, you're better off confessing the truth then risk us going any further to scare it out of you...there's no point in defending this person so much". She sent him a cold glare that challenged those of even moon's as the man shook a little as a result.

" You have no idea how scared i was...how much she made me fear for my life, that she would never leave me be and would destroy me if i said or did anything, i meant no harm to anyone, but i had to worry for my own safety lest it have happened to anyone else i had known in my home". Jackie kept writing in her pad, "Sir, we are not trying to pretend you weren't afraid...but you could leave, you should've told someone".

"And what? Risk being killed? Even now if i say anything more i risk them bursting in here and destroying me, you lot can't protect me, you couldn't even protect your own castle. I'm better off shutting my trap and keeping quiet about what's going on then risking my own life. Even if...you have dangerous children around to scare info out of me...at least dying to her might be...less painful then whatever that magical horror might do", she didn't seem as sure on that last part but he shut his mouth tight.

Janna didn't seem to enjoy that, she didn't felt they were getting rather close on the whole matter, they'd been in here for hours at this point and had only gotten just a little of what they were looking for, and they needed so much more. They could already feel themselves getting hungry and they couldn't stay much longer, but they didn't want to leave like this, without what she had been looking for since the moment she entered this room.

He had to know something more that he wasn't sharing, he couldn't be this out of the dark like angel was.

Janna stood in front of him now, face in his face, she was good at scaring people in her kingdom but he wasn't from her kingdom...so it was unlikely he knew who he was messing with. She couldn't exactly hurt him, jackie was in the room after all and so were two kids, but she had a thing for mindgames and of course...hypnotism. So maybe she needed to try something else to get it out of him.

"Janna?".

"Hmm?".

"I don't like that look on your face, i know what it means", and indeed jackie had remembered it since they were really young kids, it was the kinda face that told her to be very mindful of janna's next few actions, otherwise she might get into a mess herself. It was also the face she tended to make before marco got themselves in a whole heck of trouble from her.

"What does it mean?", the man asked, a slight tinge of nervousness in his voice.

This of course, immediately made janna very happy, she might of finally had something.

"Oh well, you won't have to worry about that, not unless you talk to us", she drummed her fingernails on the table between them, "I mean, you don't wanna ask questions you don't want the answers to after all". He didn't want to show he was worried, but janna could sense it on him, so distracted he didn't notice fae's bad luck triggering a glass of water nearby to shatter, scaring jackie and the kids.

"You're bluffing".

"I'm one of the queens of mewni, if i want to make a threat, don't assume it always means i'm just bluffing, you'd be surprised the kinda people i've been able to crack...much tougher then you".

He appeared as if he wanted to say something in response to that but chose to keep his mouth shut instead. Janna seemed pleased at that response, though maybe she would've liked for him to challenge her, would be a perfect way to start scaring him. Jackie tugged on janna's shoulder, pulling her back, "Trust me when i say, she doesn't really tend to bluff...but she is also right...you might be better off admitting what you have on you...".

"I...I stated my reasons...i can't".

"Sir, this is to help protect tons of people, if you tell us what you know many people can rest well at night, we understand you are fearful, so are we...but this is important and you need to be brave for them", he paused a moment, thinking on her words, but he still shook his head. "Sorry, no can do...if i have to live in this prison for the rest of my life, i'll take that over meeting a gruesome fate".

He just wasn't going to budge, and they were just going to have to change tactics.

Janna looked to Jackie, still grinning and clearly asking permission for her to go wild on the man before them, and jackie...as reluctant as she was...knew she just wasn't going to be winning this one.

"Look, i'm not ok with you doing stuff like that, but as long as not actual physical harm comes to him, then it's worth a shot i guess...but i am taking the kids outside, they really should eat something and i don't think they should be apart of this if we're about to make things get a whole lot worse, and i definitely don't want whatever you do affecting them...so...fine". Her reply seemed to make janna even more excited, and the man more confused, clearly expecting violence to have been what janna was talking about.

"We're leaving?", mason asked, stretching his wings.

"Yeah, we're not going to stick around for this mess, trust me, you don't want to...", she left her notepad out for janna, her look stern. "Write anything of importance, don't lose it, and don't go too far...i mean, i know you won't make any promises for sure but i still at the very least want to make sure i say that.". She moved fae away from the scene, and gathered her sword nearby.

"So did i do a good job with this or-?".

"Fae, you did well, but you're still a kid, you need a break...time to let janna take over for a bit ok?", she headed them out of the heavily guarded and locked door as janna rubbed her hands together, mason spotted the man sweating as the door shut behind them. "Is janna gonna do what the crazy mask person did to Loki? take over his mind and make him speak?", it was odd for him to come out with it like that but he wasn't stupid.

"Kinda...yeah, but not exactly, she's not using magic".

"It's a lot like magic though, magic for the mind".

"I guess if you really think about it, it is a little like magic for the mind, but just remember not to mess with the minds of others for bad purposes, janna is doing it to help us out, and no damage should come to the man...but never use it to harm anyone ok?", sheesh, jackie didn't have any kids and yet she was so...mom-like, patting the two on the shoulder as they nodded.

"Miss Jackie?".

"Hmm?"

"Are you upset about...miss luna?".

This seemed to make her stop in her tracks, blinking at mason curiously, "Well um...i can't say i'm not, i mean she was my top student and imagining her as being an enemy this entire time is well...not quite...what i wanted to happen. Putting your trust in someone only for them to be arrested rarely leaves you with any sort of good feeling, but why are you asking?".

"Cause everyone seems to be really upset about luna, including both my brothers...", his wings feel to the floor, "Judas was pretty close to her and landon...well actually landon kinda doesn't like her but having her here still makes him upset...and you were one of the people who hadn't said much about her since she got here...so...i wanted to know".

"I guess considering she was my student...i probably should've had more to say about all of this...truth be told, i just decided maybe i should stay out of it. It seems like whatever is happening, it's something that more involves the queen and you kids then me, so i just do my job and keep to that, i don't add my own thoughts unless i'm usually asked when it comes to this".

"Why not?".

"Because usually it's not my place, some things you gotta stay out of, i'll be here to help you all whenever you need me, but i won't intrude on your personal feelings and drama like that...not unless you want me too, you guys are going through enough to also include me within all of that. You don't have to worry about me with all of this, ok? Worry about you".

"But i want to, besides, i don't want you to feel upset and left out too~".

She affectionately pet his head, fixing up his hat, "Thanks mason, it's nice of you to care about me, it is genuinely sweet of you." She fixed herself up and took fae's hand, "Hopefully whatever is going on with luna gets sorted out, i'm sure i'll be updated on her as time goes on...since her parents seem to be...unavailable, I'll kinda have to be in charge of her throughout this".

"So...you're kinda gonna be treated like her mom?".

"Basically".

If only she knew.

"Anyways, we'll come back for janna, after you both eat and get whatever else you need, you're been in there long enough anyways".

"Oh yeah, it's dinner time isn't it?", he'd been in there so long he hadn't been keeping track of the time at all, no wonder he was getting so hungry, his family had to have been already eating by this point. "Yeah, though just be careful when we get there, we have guests tonight, we don't want to be impolite or anything...after we eat i'll personally drop fae back to her home...honestly i'm surprised your parents are so...lenient".

"if it makes money, they don't care if i have to do out for a bit", she shrugged and said nothing more.

"You know, you might be unlucky, but people should treat you a little better...being unlucky isn't your fault", she didn't respond again to what she said but jackie swore she at least saw her eye move to look at her a bit, "You're more then just your luck, you're a very charming girl from what i can tell, you're honest, you're helpful, and you clearly care about your family to be trying to help them".

"It's fine, i don't mind being alone and everything, more time to...think and everything", mason stuck his head out to look at her but she still didn't look at either of them, "Mason's my only real friend, everyone is always turned away. Bad Luck, either i lose to them to it or they decided they no longer want to deal with it, it's something i'm just used to".

"Well that doesn't seem fair, friends should stick by through all the trouble you go through, you clearly mean no harm to any of them".

"But i can't blame them either, even now i have to warn people when i first meet them to stay away from me, just in case they might get hurt, mason only hangs with me because he's...not scared of me, he doesn't care...but other people do...i mean, i told him to stay away the first time i met him because i didn't want to be in trouble if he got hurt hanging around me".

"You really feel like this all the time?", now the woman looked extremely concerned, more like a mom then she had expected to be over this small child. "That sounds really awful fae, i'm so sorry you have to go through that at your age...you shouldn't have to be scared about hurting your friends at your age, you should be making friends and spending time with them whenever you can".

"Easier said then done", she mumbled.

"Well, now that i'm here in mewni, i'll see if i can help you make some friends, i train all kinds of knights of many different ages here, they're unafraid of any danger and maybe they're a good fit for you! They probably won't mind your bad luck at all". She seemed rather doubtful of any of that but it was the nicest thing anyone had said to her in a good while that didn't come from mason.

"If you say so".

It probably wasn't the exact answer jackie wanted to hear, but not the worst kind either, at least fae seemed midely interested. "Hey, if anything, back there was a pretty good audition for you, you know how to be intimidating and you're already good with horses, i'd say it might be a match made for you, but don't pressure yourself, it's ok if you don't want to".

Fae nodded.

"You don't have to invite me to all your royal meals or whatever, i'm not exactly royalty...", but she quickly felt mason's wing pull her into a side hug, "Doesn't mean we can't invite you, you're friends of royalty, so that's just as cool and just as much of a reason for you to eat with us". She let out a smile, not a big smile, but a genuine smile that only made mason more happy.

"Just make sure to be on your best behavior, with moon there and king arachford, we're in for one heck of a night", she informed as they made their way to the door, being let in by guards to see everyone else already seated. Mason already noticing his missing brothers right away, but not saying anything in case that might of been out of line, though star was quick to notice her wife's absense.

"Is janna still working?".

"Yeah, she had a few other methods she wanted to try out, she should be here soon, i took the kids though", mason and fae heading to open seats for them, the woman looking between everyone. "I really hope i didn't walk in on anything, i know we're rather late but things took a lot longer then we were expecting and he was rather hard to break somehow".

"Even with fae AND Janna?".

"Well considering we just now got here, what else do you think happened? If it had been that easy we would've been done hours ago, but while fae did scare him, he apparently is way more scared of...Her, threats against his life it seems, and as far as i can tell he's never seen their face, so janna's going to try a new tactic and you'll have to meet up with her after dinner depending how it goes".

Star wasn't used to Janna not being able to scare the living daylights out of anyone before, she just hoped her mom nearby wasn't taking it as another sign of imcompintence on her or janna's part. Jackie took her seat after saying hello to the former queen and helped herself as more food was being set out, mason looking over to sky as if asking why his brothers weren't here.

She mouthed to him from across the table that it was a long story.

She really wanted to go find judas, he had to be hungry as well at this point, but she knew he needed his space right now either, it just was on her mind right now. She was worried in what state she might find him in the next time she saw him, sure he'd dealt with a lot before but this whole thing broke down most of his world, there was no coming back from that easily.

She just didn't want him to be alone through it either.

But she had to just wait it out, through dinner, and well...there was plenty to distract her if she wanted to be distracted. Her grandmother had wasted no time in getting into her reasons for being here, as anyone would expect of her. Star of course being incredibly nervous the entire time, worried just what her mother might point out and fuss over and make things worse.

Star loved her mom, she was helpful and not always such a pain.

But she could feel the disappointment in her voice. She had never had so much trouble with anything in a long time, she could usually handle threats like this and yet this one seemed to doop her at every level, it didn't look good on any queen but especially not her. Moon couldn't complain too badly, she herself had been involved with scary threats and hadn't always known what to do.

But that didn't mean she didn't need help.

It became very clear she needed to get involved, whether star liked it or not, maybe having her there might ponder different results. She was already talking about their plan and discussing what she did and didn't like, clearly the idea of using a royal celebration as a trap was not exactly her favorite idea in the world, even if it had a decent chance of actually working.

But that didn't surprise Star, at all.

Of course Star wasn't the only one at the table with parental issues that were on the rise, Angel and his father had been silent all dinner so far, most of the conversation being had by the two butterflies. They both had mostly just sat and ate, though Sky swore the king had been eyeing her a few times, probably wondering exactly how their friendship had been progressing considering sky was indeed sitting next to angel.

Nora however, was trying to be as cheery as possible, even though she also seemed worried for judas. She clearly sensed the tension in the room and was trying to be as cheery as sunny was, but even sunny was talking more to galexia and was staying out of the argument. Marco and Tom were keeping to themsleves as well, it seemed moon brought a new atmosphere then it was before now.

One that kept everyone quiet.

Sky wanted angel to just talk to his dad but that wasn't something she could just make him do, it was one of those things that had to naturally happen and right now was far from natural, as sad as it was. She did feel they wanted to talk though, but maybe more in private, where there weren't so many people around to listen in or make things more uncomfortable then they already were.

They just kept...looking at each other.

She could only imagine what was going through their heads, the king had barely left his kingdom in what must've felt like forever for him and now he was dropped in the middle of his wife being revived, his son dealing with his issues, and moon overall. This could've been a happier meeting if things were just a little less tense right now for him and everyone else.

"It's good to see you sir".

That's when the king turned to Sunny, who was waving to him, he waved back smally.

Remembering the small girl who had spent time with his wife in what felt like so long ago, he didn't seem to know what he wanted to say though, but he coughed into his hand to not be impolite. "Well, i appreciate being invited, having globgor take over the kingdom for a little...it's nice, i was really happy to come over and...not have to deal with too much at the moment".

Angel sunk more into his seat.

"Well we're happy to see you too ! It's nice having new people come over for dinner! You look good!",

Leave it to sunny to know how to talk to people and make them feel super welcome, even in the most awkward of circumstances. He looked over his old suit and nodded, "Thank you, it belonged to my father, i wanted to look my best...for Arana, i didn't want her to wake and see me look like such a mess, though...i'm sure i will when she wakes up...i ugly cry".

"She's going to be so happy to see you and angel!".

"Yes...", he glanced over to his son, who wasn't making eye contact with him still, "I'm sure she will. though she has so much to catch up on, being in this state for so long...and she might not even completely be herself after she wakes...her mind...damaged, there's going to be so much work to do...but we'll try and manage the best we can...hopefully".

"I semi met her...in her mind", sky mumbled, "I mean i wasn't intended to do that, mom just wasn't good at making a barrier around her to warn me before i got sucked in, she seems...well...she seems like she's still really lovely, i know i never was close with her throughout everything, but...i hope when she gets up to get to know her a bit better".

He was smiling, feeling more comfortable among everyone in the room, even if the queens weren't paying attention, even tom and marco looked pretty happy.

Angel was still quiet though.

He was having a hard time breaking his silence to just talk and speak up, even though he had to, he needed to. But sky put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, if you want to talk to him after dinner...it's ok, like don't force it or anything...or you might say something you might regret. No one is judging if you don't want to get into it at the table with a bunch of weirdos...".

He nodded, appreciative.

"You cooked a wonderful meal for my arrival, i really do appreciate the effort, though you didn't have to make any of my favorite dishes", and that resulted in sunny glancing to angel himself, smiling, "Hey, if it wasn't for your son, we might of had a harder time preparing for you, he knows what you like and what would mean a lot to you, he really valued making this dinner".

Angel blushed deeply at the comment, he shouldn't be so embarrassed about that, it just felt weird still to be...complimented...and to his father too.

His father seemed really touched at the thought, and that only made angel more flustered, this whole thing was going better then he expected.

"I'm sad to see young prince lucitor isn't here, i would've liked to see him again after the last time at the trial, but i assume with everything going on he probably has other responsibilities at hand", tom and marco looked at each other and sky readjusted herself in her seat, "Well uh...something like that, you're not completely wrong, you might see him later though".

"I also have no idea if i've said this before, but i want to thank you too princess", sky froze in her seat, the man folding his arms on the table. "You put yourself on the line for my son and you did help him get free of all of this...that was not something you had to do for him or my family, especially considering everything you had been put through, i really can't thank you enough".

"I mean, i mostly just winged it, i barely knew what i was doing but...thank you, you're super welcome", He then turned to angel, and nodded, "I must admit...i missed having you home, it's been a lot lonelier then before, you look...good. It's really nice to see you with good friends and having a good time, i wouldn't want you to be dealing with...our kingdom".

"How bad is it?", nora meekly asked.

"Let's just say going out right now is not a great option, not to say our people had no reason to be mad, but i feel they have gone too far. I think they really feared four our livelihoods after that trail, not just with the butterfly family, but if the person angel had betrayed would come back and kill us all as some form of retribution. I think you can say for sure angel isn't...popular there".

Angel was about to sink even further in his seat as his father talked more.

"However, they seem to have a soft spot for what sky, nora, and judas did...they've never seen our kingdom be so...defended before like that, the spiderbites especially. So perhaps something about your friendships do regress some of the anger." Nora blushed red as she instinctively grabbed her hair, "It's no problem at all, i just wanted to help...her and...".

He smiled gently at her, "Not once in our kingdom have we gotten so close with the others like that, i think while the people are mad they can't deny they really are impressed angel somehow managed to get the spiderbites to be on decent terms with us". Angel felt an ease of tension and anxiety, sitting a bit more up back in his seat, did he actually do something...right? And people liked it?

Sensing angel feeling a little better at the words sky interjected.

"Yeah, angel's been doing pretty great recently, i mean, don't get me wrong, he's pushed my buttons quite a few times and everything, but he's been pretty helpful and making a lot of progress. Like i really appreciated his help when i went through the castle to save one of my friends, he had my back the entire time...even though he didn't have to".

Angel was definitely less anxious, but now he and nora both were blushing at being praised so much.

"Angel was really involved during the underworld castle incident?", guess the man wasn't aware of his son being involved in it at all, and sky patted the spider next to her on the back. "Oh yeah he was, i mean at first i came in to save him, but then he stuck with me the entire time even though he was scared, it was honestly pretty cool of him to do".

Angel's father actually seemed to be rather impressed, not expecting these kinds of actions from his son before this point, angel had done very irrational things before this point but nothing noble and brave like this. Though the man did seem still upset about what happened before he did seem impressed about what he was seeing now, and angel felt he could breathe again.

"I-".

"It's ok angelus, we'll talk more about everything later...we have a lot of catching up to do".

Angel nodded in agreement, and the table felt slightly more at ease, not that the argument up front had stopped anytime soon. The women hadn't been paying any attention to the nice moment at all, star was still debating her mom on all her ideas and moon was very much still telling star off for not getting her involved sooner to clean up this mess.

This was the kinda thing that made sky hate family reunions, did all famlies have to fight like a bunch of idiots when eating dinner together?, Cause even judas's family did that at times and he got annoyed about it.

The sooner they got out of here the better.

Even the Lucitors were getting tired of it, Marco quickly standing up, actually starling the butterflies from their talk. They looked over to their husband and sighed, "I'm going to look for landon and celeste, maybe judas...if they don't want dinner we can bring it to them later. But we'll be having dessert soon and they still haven't shown up, so i'm going to check on them".

In the back of sky's mind though, she was sure it was half actually that, and half not wanting to be here and hear the adults argue.

But Tom stood up to, "Actually i'd like to join you, we might be able to save time by spreading out, they're my kids too.". Tom taking their partner's hand and kissing their cheek as they headed out with a wave to the kids in the room. They were smart on finding a way out of this situation, that was for sure, even angel and his father were looking for an excuse out but that wouldn't do.

They needed some permission, especially since this wasn't their castle and they were here as star's guests basically.

"-I'm just saying star, you should've taken these precautions after what happened with toffee, i know you're struggling hard here but this is all too much and it's gone on for too long and has gone too far. It's time you let someone else take the reigns, i have more military experience, so i should be able to help with some of my ideas, then we might be able to work further on this".

"Mom, we have a plan!".

"Star, plans aren't 100% You know that. There's so much you might have not even considered, and even if it did work, things can go wrong, what if they escape?", of course moon probably didn't know it but her words were beating sky down just a little. It had been her plan for the most part and she knew it wasn't even a great plan but gee, thanks grandma.

But she had a point, this was a serious situation, they couldn't afford to have a plan with possible holes or cracks in it either. Ddi they want to capture the criminal or lose another time? Sky felt herself mindlessly start playing with her food, her mind wandering during their argument. Angel mumbling under his breath, "i mean, i thought it was a pretty smart idea".

If judas couldn't be here, she was glad angel and nora were.

"Well then we'll make it work! It's a good idea mom, we need to lure them, that's the only way we're going to get anywhere!", star was determined on this one, she had to fight her mom on it, otherwise they might not get another chance. Not to say her mom's plans couldn't work, but the sooner they did this the better and who knew if they'd get as good an opportunity later.

"Star, i understand, but it's dangerous, imagine how many people will be there, in the line of fire too! Safety is important here, and if things go poorly we have a high chance someone won't make it", even though his name hadn't been mentioned at all, angel knew she was talking specifically about him. His heard his father grunt across from him, before finally getting the ladies's attention.

"I do have to agree about safety, this is a young prince's coronation after all, you are inviting an enemy onto troubled grounds. Luring them is a smart move but perhaps moon needs to modify the plan however she can", the thing was, they all agreed the plan would need to be worked on anyway, they knew it, but obviously star didn't want moon to be the person in charge of it either.

"Look, i know you don't want me here but i promise star, this won't be as bad as you think, the more minds the better to work on this. Soon enough we'll be able to breathe again and i can go back to resting, we're just going to have to work together and no amount of yelling at me is going to be making me go back into retirement", the queen sat back in her chair and star let out a huff of defeat.

"Fine".

"Since meteora is back i'll be talking to her later, i want to catch up on anything i've missed recently, because judging by all the faces at this table, i have missed quite a few details it seems", she glanced at sunny and galeixa, then to fae. Guess when it came down to it, they probably would be minor details to any average mewman hearing about all the crazy stuff going on with the criminal.

She smiled at the spider king, fixing her dress, "Sorry, i know we were talking awhile over there, nearly forgot we had a guest over your highness, as soon as we finish eating we'll take you to visit your darling arana, she should still be resting right star?". Star still looked rather mad as she leaned against her seat, but she complied to her mom's question, "Well yeah...but like...no promises what'll happen when she wakes...the spiderbites are sure she'll have memory issues no matter what".

"She will", nora mumbled, "Memories can be healed but...having us heal all of them...was unlikely with how quickly we figured out what was happening...but...maybe over time, things might work...at the very least...she's not near death now...", it was a plus, they could give her that. She wouldn't be the same as she was but she wouldn't be too gone either.

"You...think...she'll remember me?", the king muttered softly, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I'm sure she will, her family seems to mean everything for her", she didn't honestly know at the end of the day, but she had to hope at least, she had been in her mind,

The door opened, and three figures entered, tom and marco back surprisingly quickly, but with a guest at hand. Judas was standing behind them, he didn't look great but he didn't look awful either. He must've been hungry though, as he didn't even look at anyone as he sat down to eat in silence. Even the spider king didn't get a look, the man shocked at the teen's demeanor.

He had never seen prince judas so...rough before.

Judas was usually a happy individual, making jokes and helping everyone around him. Now he looked to be too inside his mind to really focus on anyone in particular, he just wanted to get something in his stomach and head out to be back in isolation as soon as possible. Angel and Nora also looked deeply troubled, both wanting to reach out to the boy who was ignoring them.

Tom and Marco whispered to sky as they passed by, "We found him in a hallway nearby, he just wants to eat, give him his space...landon and celeste are still with luna". That didn't make sky feel any better though, judas seemed to have silenced everyone, even queen moon seemed a little stunned. She wasn't around that much but she knew enough to know this didn't sit right with her.

This was the prince who was supposed to be king soon, and not only that, but whose coronation was the center of their plan.

And here he was, looking like a depressed mess.

How were they supposed to casually have a conversation with judas like this?

Well to put it lightly, they didn't, the room was silent until judas finished eating and excused himself to go and sleep. His parents didn't even protest it at all, letting him leave the room before standing up a few moments later to drag landon and celeste over here. Both of them clearly having waited till they knew judas was a little whiles away before heading out as to not bother him.

It felt like without judas some soul had been ripped from everyone.

Even Sunny.

It said a lot when even she said nothing to him.

Judas came over to get some food and left without so much as a word, not to his friends, his family, anyone, it was the worst anyone had even seen him in a good while and it left everyone with a sense of dread and sadness.

It took a minute for anyone to even talk at dessert, and the one to actually break wasn't the person anyone had been expecting to speak first at all. A small cough coming from next to mason, Fae shoving chocolate cake into her mouth as she spoke. "Y'know, mason is super happy and everything and everyone talks about how cute he is, but honestly judging by how you all are, it seems judas is the one that usually makes everyone super happy when he enters the room...no offense mase".

"It's ok, i'm not mad".

No one argued against that, judas was pretty much a friend to anyone.

He really knew how to make everyone feel better about themselves, and be someone's shoulder to lean on, and stand up for everyone if he could. In some ways he was the life of the group, he kept everyone going even when they were breaking down. Sky bit at her lip, "I know we got stuff to do but...next chance we get...after he has some time...we should all be there for him...do something nice".

"I agree", they all looked to King Amir, who eyes his son, "He's a good kid, and he's done a lot for us as well, i would be happy to contribute if you wish to have my help. I would love to pay you all back as much as i can after everything you've done". Even though neither of them were in the room, tom and marco would be extremely grateful for the kindness once they heard about this.

Everyone cleaned up quick, most of them heading out to their room to sleep protected, though the spider monsters parted off to speak, moon and star were off to deal with their issues with janna included, and sky almost was out herself when marco quickly came running back. They seemed relieved to see her, panting, they looked a little panicked and that immediately didn't sit well with sky.

"Landon and celeste...they're not with luna?".

"They aren't?".

"And luna isn't in her room either!".

"Dad...there's a lot i want to say".

"I know, it's been on my mind since the trial, a lot has been on my mind, it's...really had me thinking", they closed the door behind them, angel taking a seat in the vacant room as guards blocked the door for them. "Don't assume i'm not mad, i am...even if i understand why, but i also could tell you were terrified...and...i can't be mad at you for something like that either", he paused for a moment, his ears twitching.

"I...haven't...been a great dad...have i?".

Angel didn't answer, but that was all he needed.

"Angelus, you disobeyed me horribly and put everyone at risk...but it's not just your fault...it's mine, i'm your father...i should've been keeping a better eye on you, should've been helping you deal with these issues and feelings and stopped comparing you to judas and sky and...it's clear i did hurt you. If i had done something sooner maybe i could've prevented something bad from happening, prevented you or anyone from getting hurt...i never really thought as hard as i should about the things you were going through...i expected you to just...be this or that, and all that seemed to do was turn you against me".

"But i didn't listen to you...you know that, i constantly skipped lessons and went out when you didn't want me too and even got myself hurt multiple times as a result...i would've protested anyway", he still felt guilty, if he had listened none of this would've happened in the first place. But his father went on, "Maybe, but that didn't mean i shouldn't have tried harder...i've been so overcome with grief...i've neglected you a bit...no...a lot. Ever since you stayed here i've had so much time to think to myself and...i screwed up, i know i did.".

Angel wanted to protest but he actually couldn't deny any of the words his father had been saying, his throat tightening. "Arana never would've wanted me to neglect you that way, not even for her...this entire situation was just as hard for you and...i didn't handle it in the ways i should have. No way that a dad should have, and i feel i should apologize to you directly, for any hurt i may of caused, we should've been dealing with this situation together...not apart...and i'm sorry".

Angel felt tears starting to wallop, as much ashe tried to hold them back, he then laughed a little in pain.

"I...Is it bad if i say i didn't expect you to come here and tell me you're sorry?", his voice felt cracky and he quickly cleared his throat, "I expected you to be upset with me...not want me to come back home, i was preparing to hear bad news even if sky was sure things might be different". His father didn't seem surprised by his words, he had probably been just as prepared for angel to lash out at him for leaving him.

And he wouldn't have been mad at him at all.

"I...reconsidered a lot, while we were separated...i'm not shocked at all you feel that way...you probably felt...i didn't care about you...thought of you as just an heir...and not my son, and...that was wrong of me to do...".

"And the people?".

"I want you back home angel, whether they do or not, you're still my only son, and you should still be allowed to come home and make a name for yourself, have a fresh start".

He stretched out his legs, all of them, his mind still processing his father's words. "How can i be sure things will be different? I don't want to go back there and have everything be the same, go back to being hated or alone...i'm worried things won't change for sure...i know i have changed, but that doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way".

"I know. i won't force it if you want to stay, i know you like it here".

Those words made angel feel more comforted, his father really was hearing him out, it was baffling. "Yeah, well, here is where my friends are and everything, i mean the citizens don't like me either but...at least i have friends". He tapped his fingers, his eyes closing, "But that doesn't mean i don't want to go back, if i could...i want both...i do want to be home...but i think this is also my home...".

"I understand, and i won't keep you from it...but if you want to go home, i think we can manage something...eventually", he paused, taking a seat next to his son and wrapping his cape around them both. "I think for now you will have to stay here, if even just to keep an eye on your mother, and until things are fully good back home...but I'll make sure to send you anything you want from home to make you more comfortable here...".

"I hope when i go back home, things will be a lot easier...i want to make things easier...to help, the kingdom, it deserves so much that i haven't given it", the king nodding, "I think you'll do great things...someday, we both have some learning to do...as kings and leaders. We...made a lot of mistakes...and it's going to take time to heal from them, but...i think we can".

"I...was willing to accept you didn't believe in me but...i like hearing it anyway", and angel shifted as his father hugged him, patting his bad and it seemed the man was even crying into his son's shoulder. "I...missed you...so much, more then i ever thought i could...it was alone without either of you...i want both of you back. I want something with you...i just...".

Angel's arms wrapping around him, enjoying the hug back.

"Thanks dad".

BOOM

The noise made angel's stomach drop.

Their nice moment interrupted by more noise coming from outside, angel getting up to check out the windows right away. The room they were in had a nice view of the courtyard of the castle and there he finally got view of what made the noise that drove him to panic. It seems somehow luna had gotten herself out of her room, and she was just...standing there...she wasn't trying to escape or fight or anything, but celeste was screaming at her, storm clouds starting to appear close by.

The booming of their thunder so loud it was impossible to miss.

Angel seemed really puzzled, what had been going on that he wasn't aware of this time?

But on closer inspection he could see sky down there, with judas's parents, trying to resolve the scene at hand before things go so much worse. Amir stood up to see what his son was looking at and then angel remembered his father didn't know about the uh...multiverse situation and seeing celeste accidentally perform magic was bound to be a bad idea, the boy quickly pushing his father away much top his confusion, "Incident in the courtyard...we outta get going".

Amir seemed skeptical that his son wasn't hiding something from him but followed angel regardless, just in case it was too dangerous for him to look.

And by the time they headed lower they found tom taking luna away back to her room and celeste and landon in marco's grasp, a tired sky nearby and nodding to angel, a sign they needed to talk later so she could explain further. "Sorry sir, seems we had a situation, er...the prisoner broke out and these two were um...handling it, you might of heard my son landon using magic a bit...i promise no one is hurt".

"Your fire powers can be that loud?", the king turned to the demon, who didn't respond, his face embarrassed and mad, but at least the king seemed to be buying the excuse.

"You'd be surprised", marco said with a cheeky smile, "We're one scary dimension for a reason after all".

"Well in that case, i'm glad you handled it, i got worried for a moment, the noise startled me and i thought something bad had happened".

"No no sir, it's alright, promise, landon will just be more careful next time".

It was a smart cover up, even if the idea of fire sounding a lot like thunder was a bit odd. The king just shrugged, and noticed the young prince and princess looking at each other, coughing to excuse himself. "Well angelus, i'm going to see your mother...you can come and join me later...alright?". Angel smiled back, "Thanks, i'll see you later", before his father left with guards right behind him.

Marco nodding their head to head to the nearby closet, the kids still in his clutches.

"What happeend?".

Sky snorted, "Celeste tried to challenge luna to a duel, that's what, not that it worked, luna didn't even fight, she just...stood there". Celeste grumbling under her breath, "I wanted her to face me for betraying us how she did...that's it...she said yes, we were only supposed to be out for a few minutes, but then she didn't...do anything, she stood there...she made me feel like a fool".

"She stood there?".

Landon shrugged, "I guess she changed her mind about the duel...", though it seemed there was more to it and under his mom's watchful eye he confessed. "I'm sorry i was hoping they'd reconcile or something, i wasn't trying to get anyone to start a fight or anything, i couldn't even convince her not to, she and luna pushed me back from it all...ok?".

At first marco wasn't sure whether to believe that but celeste added on.

"He's right...he...wanted me to go and get along and i just...look...i'm just angry ok? I just want her to apologize or something or just feel bad...i hate her stupid smug looking face and how she is to everyone...i'm so sick of it". She looked like she might break into tears, "I didn't mean to worry anyone or anything i just...i'm so tired of being walked over...".

"Celeste...hey...it's ok", Marco sighed, "Look, i know i'm not really your parent here but...maybe you need to talk to some adults about...your anger...like tom...if it's really taking over your life like this you need to seek some help". She sniffled and they pet her hair, "You should not have done any of that, ok? But it's ok, we'll deal with it from there...and get this sorted out".

"Did luna say much about what went on down there?".

Marco shook their head, "We'll talk about it later, i'll take landon and celeste with me...you both are expected to go see arana so you should head there, guarded of course, perhaps you can sort some stuff out on the way in terms of our next steps...but for now i'll see you both later...and take good care of each other. Oh, and make it back to sleep soon, ok?".

They both nodded, heading on their way to see arana, watching celeste and landon be wandered off like naughty children.

"Those two...every time"., sky shook her head, "Celeste needs help, i just hope she can get some...this all hasn't been much better on her". Angel's ears twitching, "We're losing people...aren't we? Judas, luna, celeste...we're falling apart a little...and right before we're supposed to react a plan too, what happens if we can't get everything ready or fall apart before this?".

"I don't know.".

That was the honest truth, she didn't know, it was all out of her control, but if things didn't get better there was no way they'd get this plan to even work. They'd be doomed before the plan even started. How much longer before she and angel cracked? Nora? Even sunny or lexi? She felt a bit of unease, she was now the leader or this group and said group was now falling apart.

"I'm going to keep up together...we have some healing to do...but i think we can do it...but...first...we should go see your mother, we can deal with it later...when it's a good time to do so", angel nodded to her, "Judas...helped me, a lot, and i want to return the favor to him. I...I don't know how exactly i can do that for what's going on but...i'm willing to try".

"You don't have to y'know?".

"He's my friend, and so are you".

She appreciated that, "It's not going to be simple sadly, the arm thing has been apart of his life for years, he's not going to be over it so quickly. It's kinda a lot to process...i mean, he had so many nightmares as a kid because of it, it ruined his life...he might feel like...it's all his fault for what happened and not...y'know, that it isn't his fault that no one knew".

"Yeah...i'm sure it will be".

They were contemplating what they could do and what might help as they made to what was now arana's own private room near the wing, upon special request by her husband to keep any onlookers from bothering her. Honestly, sky was happy not to have to keep going into that wing, some privacy was nice, the door opened for them and the guards standing outside.

"You're here!", the king was delighted to see them, still holding his wife's hand, "I wasn't sure how long it might take for you to join me, but i'm happy you're here, come, sit with me...she's moving...". He nodded to seats nearby, the teens making themselves comfortable. "When i see the Spiderbites i'm going to owe them so much for this, i never thought i'd even see her so...lively again".

"Well they're stuck here with us. so you'll get a chance i'm sure".

He was still occupied with his wife though, "I...have so much i want to tell her, but...i can't, not right away anyways...she's going to need time when she wakes up, her mind was so...damaged...but i promise once i can i'll make sure she knows everything she can and i'll make sure we celebrate her recovery. I could not have asked for a more...wonderful gift".

"In all fairness...it was partially dumb luck".

"You call it dumb luck, i call it fate", he pet the queen's hair gently, "You will always be welcome in my kingdom, princess".

"Well right now i can't even go within a few feet of your kingdom but thanks a lot, maybe we'll get to hang out...after everything rests." Her attention drawn to angel, "Besides, he still owes me a hangout to make up for the mess he put me through, so we'll try and get that done first before we make too many promises right now". she bumped angel next to her, who coughed.

"Oh yeah, right...thanks for reminding me again, all of this distracted me a bit".

"Whatever, as long as it's nothing crazy...the party is gonna be crazy as is...", she grumbled, her voice filled with dread.

"Perhaps you can accompany my son for jude's coronation...", the king piped up, looking between the two, "i assume you were planning to do that anyway, but I think he could use the company...he hasn't been allowed to really go to a party like this in years, and it might help to have someone around to well...watch over him and get him back into the swing of things".

Sky never considered this was angel's first party in a long time, maybe that's another reason he was nervous.

"Yeah sure...of course...as long as he doesn't go wild", she was joking of course but who could say for sure angel wasn't secretly a party animal now for all she knew. Angel laughed and in the moment things seemed easygoing and rather nice for all the stress of earlier, it had been such a long time since the entire arachford family had even been in the same room together.

Much less happy together.

Angel felt finally as if the butterflies had left his stomach fully, his stress about his dad gone.

But then a noise caught the attention of the group, interrupting the moment for them. Their first instinct was to turn to look at the queen, and sure enough, the noises were coming from her directly, she was stirring and it no one has seen her making noises like this in a while, especially with how silent these days she had been. It was a small breathe, then a whimper, then it almost sounded as if she was trying to speak some words, not that they could tell what the words actually were.

Then movement, the queen was stirring even more, startling everyone in the room further, the grip on the king's hand tightening. His mood was shifted, as if worried something was wrong for a moment, only for her legs to start moving as well. Her eyes started shifting around the room, her ears wiggling before she turned her head to face the group.

This was the most movement she had done in awhile and it had caught them entirely off guard.

"A-arana?".

She jolted again, her face shifting a bit more as she looked over the faces of her guests with a softness they hadn't seen in a long time.

"Angel?".

#star vs the forces of evil #svtfoe #svstfoe #sky and the forces of the multiverse #star butterfly #tom the demon #tom lucitor #marco diaz #marco #janna ordonia #jackie lynn thomas #moon butterfly #janstar bby #tomstar bby #starkie bby #starco bby #tomco bby #fanfiction #my art

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snakebites-22 · 4 years

Text

My Favorite Color is You

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A/N: This is my first Peter Parker fic and first fic on this site. I really hope you like it and feedback is welcome but don’t be a bully please. Thank you @dreamofaprilsblog for the prompts “Do you need to go to the hospital?” and soulmate AU. Sorry for this being a day late, but I hope you still enjoy it anyways.

Warnings: fire, almost mugging, burns, hospitals, slight angst, petty teenagers, mentions of a person being followed (comment if there’s anything else I should add)

Word Count: 3175

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Summary: Peter Parker is very desperate to find you, his soulmate. He’s looked for you in every person he makes eye contact with. Guys, girls, he’s looked for you in everyone. Well, one fateful patrol leads him to discover his new favorite color.

Side note: I tried to make this as gender inclusive as possible so I used “they” to describe the reader’s pronouns, but just imagine your own whenever “they” is used if it isn’t your pronoun. Peter is bi in this story. If there is a point where I accidentally specify a gender please let me know so I can fix it. Enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter knew about soulmates. He’s read about them in books, learned about famous soulmates in class, and even heard about them in real time from people lucky enough to find theirs. He, of course, was not that lucky. Stupid Parker luck. He knew from what he��s heard and learned that the world actually isn’t dull shades of gray with black and white, but it actually had color. Real vibrant colors like red and purple and green, things his brain didn’t have the capacity to imagine. He knew that all it took was eye contact with the right person to change his world. Too bad he hadn’t found those eyes just yet.

He was sitting on top of a random apartment building while on his usual nightly patrol bored out of his freaking mind. There just wasn’t anything good tonight. He helped a little girl get her kite down from a tree and one man needed help catching his dog who had gotten off his leash, and yeah he was a cute dog, but he could be doing something better. He could be finding you. Of course, he didn’t know who you were yet. Just a bright, beautiful figment of his imagination, and his heart ached for you. Was that even possible? To long for someone he wasn’t even sure existed? Well, guess it is because he’s living proof of the pitiful feeling.

A loud yell shook him from his depressing thoughts and he jumped up quickly.

“Finally,” he muttered with a small grin as he shot a web in the direction the yell had come from. He swung as quickly as his agile body allowed and soon landed down on the pavement in front of an alleyway. He looked around cautiously and could feel the prickling sensation that was his Peter t- Spider Sense. It was his Spider Sense. He shook his head a bit and tried to remain focused as he crept down the dark passage.

“I don’t want any trouble, lady,” Peter heard a low voice hiss from the gloom. “Just want whatever cash and shit you got on ya. Don’t be a bitch about it.”

Peter scowled and kept walking until he was able to make out two figures in the dim light the street lamps provided. A young woman, maybe late teens or early twenties, was pinned up against a wall while a man who was obviously older stood before her, a small knife in his right hand.

Peter sighed softly. “Y’know,” he started as the criminal dude jumped. “If you want money you should probably just get a job like a normal person. I hear the Burger King down the street is hiring.”

The guy quickly turned around and tried to slash at Spider-Man with the knife which the boy effortlessly ducked and grabbed his assailant's arm, twisting just enough that he dropped his knife. The man grunted in pain and swung at him again, but Spider-Man dodged and countered with a kick to the man’s abdomen. The force of the kick sent him flying back into the opposite alley wall and before he had time to even look up, the young hero webbed him to the dirty brick.

“Karen?” Peter whispered softly.

“The police are on their way Peter. Good job,” the AI responded.

Peter smiled beneath the mask. “Hey, thanks.”

The boy turned around to see the girl still standing against the wall, breathing deeply. His heart jumped a bit as he realized that she was about his age, and also very pretty. Try as he might to keep it down, hope surged in his chest as he made his way over to her.

“Excuse me, miss? Are you okay? Do you need to go to the hospital?” He asked quickly as he did a small glance over her.

“No, I believe I’m alright. Thank you Spider-Man,” she breathed out.

She slowly looked up at him and Peter looked into her eyes and-

Nothing… they remained a light grey color just like the rest of his surroundings. He couldn’t help the small disappointed sigh that left his lips before he forced himself into a smile.

“That’s good. I’m glad. Um… do you live far from here? I could walk you home if you want.”

The girl shook her head and gave him a tiny, hesitant smile. “My car is right down the street. I was walking there so that I could get to the library where my girlfriend is probably waiting for me when that guy grabbed me. Speaking of her, I should probably get going. Thank you again.” She smiled hesitantly and waved to him before walking away and taking out her phone, probably to call this girlfriend.

Peter sighed again and watched her to make sure she got to her car before looking back at the man webbed to the wall. “Does everyone have a soulmate except for me?” he questioned without really expecting an answer. Nevertheless, the almost mugger shrugged anyway.

Peter scowled before jumping up and climbing the alley wall. He stood on the roof and waited there until the police arrived to take the guy into custody, and once they were gone so was Spider-Man.

-------------------------

Peter entered his bedroom through the open window and crawled along his ceiling until he was over top of his loft bed. Looking over his shoulder to make sure he didn’t accidentally fall onto the floor, which definitely didn’t happen a lot, he let go and flopped onto the bed with a huff. He tugged his mask off of his head and tossed it over the side in a fit of petty anger.

May, who must have heard him come in, opened the door and gazed up at him. “Long night?” she asked softly to which Peter just shrugged, not in the mood to really talk to anyone.

“Well, I got us some Chinese food if you’d like it.” Peter heard the door creak behind her as she turned around and walked back towards the rest of the house. He would have preferred to stay in bed, but the incessant growling of his stomach said no, causing him to get up. After changing out of his suit annoyedly, he went out and joined his aunt.

Aunt May was sitting at their small dinner table with a plate of chow mein, glancing at the TV which was playing the news report of the latest Spidey save. Peter walked over and sat down in his usual seat across from her. When she looked up at him, she smiled sadly.

“I got you some dumplings and noodles. Also they gave me, like, a ton of fortune cookies. I don’t know who needs sixteen fortune cookies, but apparently it’s us.”

“You counted?” Peter asked with a little chuckle.

“Hey. That many fortune cookies needs to be counted,” May retorted with a smile as she saw her nephew laugh.

They both began eating, Peter slow at first but then diving in once he realized exactly how hungry he was.

Once they finished eating, Peter helped pack up the leftovers and clean the dishes. As he loaded the dishwasher, Aunt May asked softly, “what’s on your mind tonight? The guy you fought?”

Peter shook his head and sighed. He finished loading the dishwasher before turning to Aunt May to answer. “No I just… how old were you when you met Uncle Ben? And found out he was your soulmate?”

Aunt May looked slightly taken aback by this question and pursed her lips a little. She always did that whenever Ben was brought up. “I was 23, I think. Yeah… yeah somewhere around that age. We met at this resort one summer. That’s also where your mom and dad met.” She smiled a little at the memory and Peter watched her with slight pain behind his eyes. “God, when all four of us saw color for the first time, well, we were so surprised of course, but it was really, really amazing. Why do you ask?”

“I just… nothing. Just curious,” Peter answered with a tight smile. “I think I’m gonna head to bed now. Tired. From the fight.”

Aunt May nodded and Peter trotted back to his room. Before he reached the door, he heard her call to him from the kitchen. “You’ll find your soulmate Peter. I know it feels like forever and you just want to meet them now, but I promise you’ll find them soon.” Peter glanced back at her before walking into his room without saying another word.

-------------------------

The next couple of days were a consistent and normal blur. Peter had school, then patrol, then repeat the next day. Everywhere he went he looked around for his soulmate. At one point, this really cute curly haired boy walked past him and he felt his heart skip a beat as he looked into his dark eyes, but nothing again. He sighed in disappointment as the taller boy walked away from him, leaving him to continue his stupid quest.

That had happened two days ago. Now, Spider-Man was patrolling the city, swinging between buildings. It was a relatively quiet night. He helped this one kid find his mom when he got separated from at a park, and he also walked a young woman back to her apartment because she thought she was being followed. After double checking, it didn’t look like she was, but then again that was probably because the shithead saw Spider-Man and turned around. But all-in-all, it was very quiet and chill. That is, until the explosion happened.

Spider-Man quickly started swinging in the direction the loud sound came from, wondering what the hell that was about. It didn’t take him long to find it. A restaurant he happened to pass by a lot was burning up in giant, pale flames. He jumped down and quickly ran inside the burning building.

There was fire everywhere. The heat crashed against him like a ferocious wave. It reminded him so much of his fight with the Vulture that he hesitated a second before continuing to run inside. It looked like most of the people had already gotten out or were running for the exits.

“That way over there,” Spidey yelled to the people running past him. “Is anyone else still in here?” He called out as he ran further into the building. Weak coughing came as a reply. Someone ran up to him and grabbed him while coughing viciously into their arm.

“Spider-Man,” the person said in harsh breaths. “Please you, you have to help. The back room. My friend－”

“I’ll get to them. Get yourself to safety.”

They nodded and ran out the building while the young hero ran in the direction the person had gestured to. He could still hear the weak coughing from earlier, but now he was hearing a tiny “help” and “please” that made his heart ache. He dodged out of the way of falling debris and hissed in pain when he backed into a burning metal rod from an overturned table. Still, he pressed on until he reached the backroom.

The smoke was immense. From the damage it looked like this was the epicenter of the explosion.

“Hello?” he yelled over the roar of the fire. He wasn’t sure if he could even be heard over everything, but a weak call answered him.

“O-over here.”

Spider-Man jumped over more burning debris as he frantically looked around. His eyes widened when he finally saw them. A figure lay trapped beneath a large chunk of wood that had once been the ceiling. They looked badly burned and were coughing harshly and breathing in rough, raspy breaths.

He ran over to them and started to lift up the wood despite the burning in his hands, causing the person below to cry out. Spidey yelled in pain as he managed to lift the debris off of them and throw it to the side.

He quickly crouched down to look at the person he just rescued, and he was met with the most beautiful pair of e/c orbs to ever exist. His jaw dropped as he quickly ripped off his mask, his mask that was now the most vibrant and bright shade of a color he had only ever heard about. He looked back at you, your eyes impossibly wide as you choked out a small, “you?”

Peter nodded. “Me..let me lift you up okay?” You nodded a tiny bit and whimpered loudly as Peter gently wrapped his arms underneath your battered body, lifting you up into his chest. He winced a little from the pain in his hands and his back, but he pulled his mask back on before running out of the now rapidly collapsing building.

The fire was so much brighter now. Reds and oranges and yellows. He could see the burning blue curtains hanging in the window. The shades of green and brown and the colorful painting on the wall that were all turning to black and grey ash. How horrifyingly beautiful.

He ran over to where the ambulances were parked and looked around frantically as he saw the EMTs and paramedics treating people and getting the most badly hurt people on stretchers and into the vehicles.

“Do you need to go to the hospital?” He heard from behind him. He turned around and saw a paramedic looking at him.

“N-No no but they do,” Spidey stated as he held you tightly to his chest. Your eyelids were nearly closed and your breathing was ragged.

The paramedic quickly called her team over and they gently took you from his arms. They laid you out on the stretcher and got to work on getting you on a breathing mask and looking at your wounds. His breath caught in his throat as he began to clearly see how bad your wounds were. Harsh red burns covered your skin, especially your lower body where the wood had pinned you down.

For a moment it was so hard to focus, the sirens and yelling was overwhelming, the bright lights were blinding him, the heat was still so immense, he could hear your heart and your breath so impossibly loud, and just all the colors－

It was all so much he almost didn’t notice the team taking the stretcher you were on away into an ambulance. Taking you away into the ambulance. Away from him. He was not having any of that. They were not taking you away when he just finally found you. Your gorgeous eyes looked at him with fear and desperation as they rolled you away.

“Wait!” he cried as he followed after them. “Wait please you have to let me come with you. I have to go with them.”

“Are you family?” an EMT asked him with a puzzled expression.

“No no I-I’m not but－”

“We’re only allowing family to－”

“I’m their soulmate!” He shouted. “Please. Please don’t take them from me.”

After a moment, just one single moment where Peter could feel his chest constricting and he could sense your eyes on him and his heart was beating way too fast, the EMT nodded and Spidey joined them in the ambulance.

He sat down beside your stretcher and gently took your hand. He stared into your eyes that had started to fill with tears, and he very lightly gave your fingers a squeeze despite the sting in his own hand. You offered him the tiniest smile, and then the ambulance drove off, taking both of you with it.

-------------------------

It had been several hours. You were now laying in a hospital bed with all of your burns bandaged and your wounds attended to as Peter sat in a chair beside you, his own burns taken care of as well.

Aunt May had stopped by earlier to check on him and also see you. They talked a bit about all of the colors. How bright they were or how dull they were and how your eyes were his new favorite color because, God, how could one thing be so beautiful? However, he couldn’t see your eyes now as you slept peacefully. Instead, he was staring in fascination at the Spider-Man suit. He really went around in such a bright red and blue suit? How has he not been shot and killed yet?

He was shaken out of these thoughts by the sound of the bed sheets rustling. He quickly looked up and was met by his favorite color. He smiled widely and sat up straighter as you offered him a tiny smile.

“Hi,” he breathed out.

“Hi,” you whispered back.

You both stared at one another for a moment that was both awkward and yet somehow comforting. You cleared your throat a tiny bit before murmuring, “Can I have a drink?”

“Drink? Oh uh yeah of course, sorry.” Peter quickly sprang up to get you a glass of water from the water dispenser over in the corner. He walked back over and carefully raised the glass to your lips, your hand coming up to gently rest over his and he would be a huge liar if he said he didn’t blush as red as his suit.

He set the empty glass down on the bedside table and sat back down in his seat, pulling it a tiny bit closer to your bed.

“So,” you began softly. “Spider-Man is my soulmate?”

“Yeah, I guess so,” he laughed softly. “My name’s Peter. Parker.”

“Y/n,” you answered.

He smiled one of the biggest smiles that he’s ever smiled before. It was one of those where it leaves your cheeks aching afterwards.

“What?” you asked, an eyebrow raised.

He shook his head quickly, his curls bouncing along his hairline. “Nothing just… your name is so perfect. You’re perfect.”

“You found me in the pits of hell and you’re going to call me perfect? You’re an angel.”

He definitely did not blush at that statement. Nope. Not Peter Parker.

He laughed a little and looked at you adoringly. He could already tell he was the luckiest guy alive.

“So, uh, I should probably ask this just to um make it official and all of that,” Peter mumbled after a moment. “Would you like to go out sometime? I mean, obviously once we’re both healed and everything. And… afterwards maybe be my significant other?”

You laughed a little and Peter felt his face fall and his inside twist up in nervousness. Did he do something wrong? What was happening?

“Yeah, of course. I’d love to go out with you Peter Parker.”

He beamed widely at you as you smiled back. You both sat for a few minutes in silence and at some point Peter had taken your hand and was gently rubbing circles into it and you both were talking about absolutely anything, but mostly about all the new colors when a nurse walked in.

“Excuse me, your parents are here. Shall I send them in?”

Peter’s eyes widened as you turned to look at him with a smirk.

“Ready to meet my parents?”

Fuck.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tagging some people who will hopefully like this: @soft-petey @quaksvn @itslokes @tommysparker @greenorangevioletgrass @lxilahm @holland-mendes-always-forever @thespydersargon @angel-spidey @angel-holland @th0ttie4tommy @tonguetiedholland @follow-tom-holland-is-spiderman @tcny-stcrks @spideyyeet @spider-starry @bitchass-slytheriny-snake @dreamofaprilsblog

(Redid the tags cuz apparently they didn’t work)

If you want to be added to my taglist or removed just comment and I’d be happy to do so <3

#peter parker x reader #peter parker #spiderman #marvel #my fics #tw fire #tw mugging #angsty #fluff #mcu #Aunt May #soulmate #au #fanfic #spiderman x reader #tom holland x reader

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ellewritesathing · 4 years

Text

Faking It - III

Summary: You’d done plenty of dumb things in your life, but the dumbest had to be picking Greendale’s latest bad-boy to pretend to be your boyfriend.

Masterlist Prev. | Part 3

Word-count: 3k+

A/N: hello friends i forgot what day of the week it was. sorry for posting late but i hope you like it regardless!!

“You punched Colin Anderson in the mouth?”

Sighing, you closed your locker and turned to face your friend. “Hi, Harvey, I’m doing great, thanks for asking,” you said, adjusting the bag on your back as you did. “How are you today?”

“Come on, Y/N, I’m being serious,” Harvey said. “You go on one date with the guy and now you’re getting into bar fights?”

“First of all, it wasn’t a bar fight,” you said. “Second of all, if Colin Anderson didn’t want to be punched in the mouth, he shouldn’t have tried to grab my ass.”

“Well, that’s not the story he’s telling people,” Harvey said, shifting around uncomfortably under the weight of new information.

“What’s he telling people?” you asked, turning and beginning to walk to your next class. “And who is he? I’d never seen him before that night.”

“That’s because you don’t go to any of the football games,” Harvey said, voice bouncing around as he followed you to keep the conversation going. “He’s like the rockstar of Green Valley, alright? And he’s telling people that Caliban lost a bet to him and you punched him to get out of paying up.”

“That’s bullshit!”

“Yeah, I know that now,” Harvey said. “But this is the kind of crap he does, Y/N. It’s only gonna get worse the longer that you’re around him.”

“Harvey, for clarification, I never plan on being around Colin Anderson again unless I’m punching him in the mouth.”

“You know that’s not who I was talking about,” Harvey said with a sigh. He rubbed his face and you actually felt bad for him right then. He could be a pain at times but he was still one of your closest friends, and the strain of being your friend was starting to show. “Just … be careful. Caliban’s not a good guy. I mean, look at just look at your hand.”

You looked down for a second and saw what he was talking about: the gnarly looking purple-yellow bruise on your outer three knuckles and the small split that refused to heal between your pinky and ring finger. You took a sharp breath and pulled your hand behind your back.

“I think you’re wrong about him,” you said. You put your non-bruised hand out when Harvey started arguing. “Yeah, he’s done some shady stuff but don’t you think, underneath all that, there’s something good about him?”

“No.”

“Ouch,” Caliban said. You’d been too focused on Harvey that you didn’t even notice his arrival until you were jumping at the sound of his voice. Harvey seemed less rattled and more annoyed. “Please, cousin, don’t hold back on my account.”

“Whatever.” Harvey was never a pro at witty comebacks. He shifted again and then gave up on whatever speech he was mentally preparing. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Duly noted,” Caliban said with a smile, stepping closer and placing a hand on the small of your back. “Thank you.”

Harvey shook his head and got ready to say something that would, without a doubt, end up in an argument when the warning bell rang overhead. “I’ll see you guys around.”

“No, Harvey, wait-” You reached out for his hand but he shook you off. You turned to face Caliban’s angelically smiling face with a fury. “What the hell was that?”

“What was what?” Caliban asked, either not noticing your frustration or ignoring it in favor of pretending to be playfully ignorant.

“Why can’t you have a single conversation with him where it doesn’t end in an argument?”

“I’m afraid my cousin is rather sensitive at heart,” Caliban said, dropping his gaze to the floor for a moment. “He doesn’t appreciate my witticisms the same way you do.”

“I’m not so sure I appreciate them either,” you said. The second bell rang out and you took another step back. “I’m going to be late for class. We can talk about it later.”

Caliban called out your name but you disappeared into the sea of students before he could change your mind.

---

In an attempt to distance yourself from all the boy trouble you’d gotten yourself into, you buried yourself in schoolwork. You opted for the safety and quiet of the library instead of eating lunch with your friends, but your carefully crafted isolation was broken by Roz dumping her stuff on one of the chairs across from you and taking a seat right in front of you.

“So what’s the deal with you and Harvey’s cousin?” she asked. The people around you shushed her and she mumbled out an apology before leaning in and whispering, “So what’s the deal with-”

“It’s really complicated, Roz,” you said with a sigh. “And I’ve got this trig assignment due in like twenty minutes so I can’t talk right now.”

“You can copy mine if you tell me what’s going on,” Roz said. She got a sinister smile on her face when she knew she’d won - a smile you had come to love and hate. You relented and she dug the assignment out of her bag. “Spill.”

“It started a while ago-” Not a total lie. It would be easier once you were copying answers and not looking at the face of your best friend. “He was looking for Harvey and somehow found me instead. The long-distance thing was going really well, you know? And then Harvey found out and completely freaked out-”

“I mean, it makes sense,” Roz said. “You and him are like best friends and it sounds like Caliban ends up with everything Harvey cares about so- hey, don’t look at me like that. I never said it was intentional.”

“What did he end up with that Harvey cared about so much?” you asked, putting the trigonometry aside for a moment to argue.

“His little league spot, Lucy, a loving mom instead of an angry dad,” Roz went on to list a few more, slightly less heartbreaking, things before sighing and shrugging lightly. “And now you.”

“I’m not some old action figure, Roz. It’s not like me dating Caliban has to change anything between me and Harvey,” you said. You looked down at your trig assignment again and thought that maybe you were taking this fake relationship a little too seriously.

“But it does change things. He thinks you’re choosing his cousin over him.”

“But that’s not what I’m-” you broke off your argument when people started shushing you again. “Fine, okay, whatever. Just tell me how to fix it.”

Roz got her sinisterly smart smile again and she rested her chin on her hands. “I’m so glad you asked,” she said. “I was thinking we could all go out - like go bowling or something - and the rest of us could meet Caliban while you spend some quality time with Harvey.”

You bit your lip as you thought about it. It wasn’t a bad plan, but you didn’t like the idea of Caliban talking to your friends when you couldn’t step in to fix whatever lie he messed up. And the idea of Harvey and Caliban getting in close contact again …

“We could go bowling,” you said eventually. Roz got excited and you got shushed again. “But you have to promise me you’ll be nice to him, okay? And Theo too.”

“Deal!” Roz scooped up all her stuff, forgetting her trig with you. “I’ll go talk to the others and give you the details later.”

“Thank you,” you said with a small smile as she ran off.

Maybe this would work out.

Maybe a group fake date was just what you needed.

---

“You want to go bowling?” Caliban asked as the two of you walked off the baseball field together.

After a day of avoiding him, you’d finally decided to track him down after practice, not accounting for how attractive he would look with messed up hair and some color in his face.

“I don’t want to - my friends want to,” you said. “They want to meet the guy that has me punching Colin Anderson in the mouth.” You shrugged when Caliban looked over at you with a very confused face.

“Who the fuck is Colin Anderson?” he asked. Deciding there were better things to argue about, he let out a breath and shook his head. “Alright, bowling sounds fun.”

You punched his arm playfully and said, “Liar.”

He gave you a lighthearted, self-assured smile and rolled his eyes. “Am I picking you up beforehand so we can go over whatever little details you’ve come up with for me to tell your friends?”

“Duh.” You sighed and stopped walking when the two of you reached the parking lot. “And, look, we have to talk about earlier. You can’t be like that with Harvey anymore, okay?”

“What was I like?” Caliban asked, looking amused by how seriously you were taking this charade.

“You know exactly what you’re like,” you said. “I know there’s that whole family thing that happened, but if you weren’t so antagonistic maybe things wouldn’t be so bad between you two. Why can’t you just be with him like you are with me?”

“Because Harvey’s not nearly as pretty as you,” Caliban said, lifting a hand to your cheek before you knocked it out of the way. He sighed and put his hand in his pocket. “Unfortunately, Harvey has made up his mind about not liking me. Nothing I do is going to change that.”

“Then let’s bet on it,” you said. “If being nice doesn’t work then I’ll … I don’t know, sit through one of your boring baseball games?”

Caliban laughed and rocked back on his heels. “If it doesn’t work, you have to come to one of my baseball games and cheer me on. Face paint, hand-drawn sign, the works. Deal?”

“No way.”

Caliban shrugged. “I wonder how Harvey would feel about me letting the air out of one of his tires ...”

“No!” You smacked his arm. “Fine. I’ll go to one of your boring games and pay attention, alright? Deal.”

Caliban smiled and took his hand out of his pocket to hold it out to you, waiting for you to shake it. “Deal.”

Rolling your eyes, you shook his hand. He cleverly maneuvered his hand around to interlace with yours and started walking across the parking and back to the school. His hand was warm and felt like it fit in yours, but it also left you feeling like you’d made a deal with the devil.

---

Despite your reservations, the group date was actually going well.

You only tried on two outfits beforehand and your parents weren’t there to ask questions when Caliban picked you up. The two of you went over all the details in the car about your relationship - Where was your first date? Did he know your favorite color? Did you know his favorite book? What was your song? - and he didn’t catch you staring at him this time. Plus, Caliban didn’t roll his eyes when you reminded him to be nice to Harvey tonight.

Harvey, on the other hand, made no such promises, and one of the first things he did when he saw Caliban was glare at him. The rest of your friends were a lot friendlier; introducing themselves with uncertain hugs and making jokes about finally meeting the guy that left Billy speechless for once.

And Caliban was quite the charmer, even with his whole bad boy thing going on. He flustered Theo and made Roz giggle - that’s right, giggle - and didn’t even argue when Sabrina suggested you bowl as teams. She was the only person who wasn’t affected by Caliban, but Sabrina wasn’t affected by much.

Theo banned playing as couples because he and Roz weren’t a couple anyway, so Roz quickly suggested possible teams. You and Harvey would be together (she cast a very un-subtle look at you when she said that part), Theo and Caliban could be on a team, and then she and Sabrina would tie it all together. When no one offered up a better roster, the lot of you went to get shoes and pick a lane.

Theo and Caliban made a surprisingly good team, with Theo excitedly bumping into Caliban every time one of them made a good throw and then full-on hugging him whenever one of them got a strike. It was cute, and you couldn’t fight those damn butterflies that flew around every time Caliban got along with one of your friends.

Sabrina and Roz were, unsurprisingly, more interested in talking to one another than trying very hard to win. It was nice to see they’d outgrown their competitiveness, but maybe that was just because they weren’t competing against each other.

And then there was you and Harvey. Like always, you were crushing it, but unlike always Harvey was so focused that you could basically see the steam coming out of his ears. He was determined to beat Caliban, even if it meant he had a rotten time while doing it.

“Alright,” you said, turning to Harvey after your turn and crossing your arms over your chest. “Are you gonna be frowning like that the whole time?”

“I’m not frowning,” Harvey said, mimicking your movements and crossing his arms defensively. “I’m just, you know, focused.”

“Focused,” you repeated and he nodded. “Okay, but just know that you’re the only one ‘focusing’ so hard.”

You walked back to the chairs and sat next to Caliban while Theo got his ball from the retrieval area. Pulling his arm around your shoulders, you leaned your head up to talk to him. To anyone else, this was a sweet moment - and maybe it still was - but it was also a very sneaky way to check on him without your friends suspecting anything.

“You’re doing great,” you said quietly. “I think Theo would be your real boyfriend if you asked nicely enough.”

Caliban laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I get the feeling that’s not all you came to say.”

“It’s not,” you said, shifting as Theo started yelling for Caliban to come bowl for his turn. “Just- miss this one, okay? Not totally because that would be suspicious but-”

“You want me to throw the game?” Caliban asked.

“Yeah, kinda,” you said awkwardly. “Do you mind?”

“A little, but I’ll do it,” Caliban said. He kissed the top of your head and untangled himself from you to get to his feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a game to win,” he said with a dramatic wink. “Enough fraternizing with the enemy for one night.”

“The enemy?” You laughed and repositioned yourself in your seat. “Huh, so that’s how it is?”

“Exactly,” Caliban said over his shoulder as he went to get his ball.

He knocked down the pins so it would be impossible to get them all down on the second try. If Theo did well, Caliban would make some slight mess up and vice versa. By the time they were done, you and Harvey had won by three points.

“Yes!” Harvey said under his breath after tallying up the scores. You pretended not to hear, but the two of you had a celebratory hug before getting back to the group. To your surprise, Harvey took a breath and held his hand to Caliban to shake. “Hey, good game, man.”

Caliban took his hand after a moment and smiled. “Thanks, you too.”

“Okay, that was fun and all,” Theo said, holding out his hands and gesturing vaguely to your bowling lane. “But can we get out of here now? I’m starved.”

Sabrina laughed and bumped Harvey’s arm. “What do you say? Winner buys us all something to eat?”

“Oh, no way,” Harvey said. “I’ll drive but you guys are buying us dinner. That’s how it works.”

“I think he may be right,” Caliban said with a dramatic sigh before smiling at the group. “What do you guys say we get out of here and treat them to a burger and some fries?”

“As long as you’re paying, you can treat them to anything you like,” Roz said with a laugh. “We’ll meet you guys there?”

You said you would and then followed them out to the parking lot, making jokes about how Harvey must have been practicing beforehand and Roz’s one amazing strike among the rest of her gutter throws. Your friends went one way and you and Caliban went the other, still holding hands even though no one was around to see it.

Squeezing his hand, you came to a stop on your side of the car and leaned against it to face him. “Hey, thanks for that,” you said. “You were really great with them.”

Caliban shrugged. “What are fake boyfriends for if not to impress your friends?”

You laughed and shook your head. “I’m being serious,” you said as you straightened up. “I know how much you hate losing.”

“I may have thrown the bowling game, but I think I won something else,” Caliban said. He looked at your mouth for a second before looking back up at your eyes.

“Oh really?” you asked.

“Definitely,” Caliban said with a smile. He took a deep breath and looked out at the road not too far in front. “We should probably leave before your friends get worried.”

“Probably,” you said. You took a step closer and lifted your hand to the side of his face before kissing his cheek softly. “Thanks, Abercrombie. It’s been a good night.”

“It has,” Caliban said quietly.

He didn’t push any more than that, letting go of your hand and opening your door for you. When the door closed as you got in the car, you took a deep breath. As happy as you felt when Caliban got in the car with an uncomplicated smile on his face, it also felt like you’d just been hit in the mouth like a pissed off teenager.

“Ready to go?” Caliban asked as he buckled up next to you.

This was still an undeniably bad decision, but it was your undeniably bad decision.

“Ready,” you said with an uncomplicated smile of your own.

Part 4

Tagged: @t-a-i-l-o-r-m-a-d-e @miss--moose @marrypuffsstuff @harryscarolinaa @igorsbby @foji2000 @mschfavngz @artaxerxesthegreat @thxmagic @strawberriesandknives @xealia @hotmessindisguise @sweetrogers @reheated-coffee @shelby-x @perseny-blog @millie-753 @luneerius @shizzybarnaclee @lettherebelovex @throughparisallthroughrome @ietss @thebookwormlife @mechanicalanimalz @mariamermaid @nqbmf

#caliban #caliban imagine #caliban x reader #faking it #caos #chilling adventures of sabrina

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what-is-your-plan-today · 4 years

Text

What The Stark Spangled F**k?

One Shot- Finding Rori

Summary: Rori gets a pet. And hilarity/chaos ensues.

Warnings: Bad language words…

A/N: This came to me yesterday and is inspired by my own fairground goldfish, Evans, who is 5 this year. This one fits in the timeline after “Changes”

The Rogers household for once, was reasonably quiet. It was a Saturday afternoon and both Jamie and Aurora were out with Bucky and Sam, leaving Katie and Steve with just Harry (and bump, which was still in the very small, early bump stages being 16 weeks or so). Katie was led on the sofa, Stark squashed alongside her n his back whilst she read a book and Steve was led on the rug with Harry, the pair of them drawing on a large piece of paper using the crayons that Stark hadn’t eaten. The little boy was happily colouring along, grinning and talking to his Dad as he went, occasionally glancing up at Moana which was playing on the TV, sometimes he would start to imitate the singing, causing Katie to glance up and watch him, smiling softly. Out of their 3 born kids, he had without doubt been the easiest one to deal with. He hardly ever cried or made a fuss, never complained, he was such a placid little boy. The pair of them had no idea who he took after as neither of them were known for their patience or calmness really. And frankly, compared to his sister who could be the biggest pain in the ass on the planet, it was a welcome change. Which was why they liked to make time for him on his own as when the other 2 were around, they demanded all the attention, something which Katie hated, and Steve knew was worrying her about when baby number 4 arrived.

But their peace was shattered as the security system alerted them to the fact the gate had been opened by “Bucky Barnes” and Steve glanced up at the clock. It was gone 5, he hadn’t realised it was getting that late in the day. He let out a sigh, and exchanged a look with Katie who had placed her book down in preparation for the onslaught.

Which arrived a few minutes later as Jamie sauntered into the room, baseball cap perched on his head backwards, followed by Rori who was clutching a plastic bag in her hand, and contained in which was…

“Oh you are kidding me, right?” Steve nodded to the offending fish swimming around in small circles as Rori held it up grinning. He looked at Katie who was trying not to laugh as he shook his head. Rori had been asking the two of them for a fish for weeks and they had persistently said no…and surprise, surprise here she was with one.

“BUCKY…BUCKY!” Steve yelled as Harry grinned, joining in and clapping.

Buck appeared in the doorway, looking at Steve innocently whilst behind him Sam carried some form of small tank which held a pink castle and some other ornaments along with some food, gravel and a filter.

“I told you not to buy her a damned goldfish Bucky!” Steve looked at him, shaking his head

“I didn’t.” Bucky shrugged “I won her one.”

“Fisheee!” Harry said as he toddled over to Rori to get a closer look.

“That’s…that’s a technicality!” Steve spluttered before he looked at Sam who shook his head.

“I had nothing to do with this man.”

“Don’t lie Uncle Sam.” Jamie said, dropping onto the sofa, Stark licking his face “You helped Rori pick the tank in the pet store.” “Traitor” Sam narrowed his eyes at him.

“You…” Steve pointed at Bucky as he stood up from the rug “Are the biggest jerk ever, you know that?”

Bucky grinned innocently as Rori turned to Katie who examined the fish before she gave a shake of her head and sighed.

“Well it’s hear now so we might as well set the tank up.” And just like that, the Star Spangled Diva once more got her own way, as half an hour or so later, said bastard fish was safely in its new home, the tank sitting on the corner unit in the den where Steve had placed it once it had been filled and the ornaments arranged EXACTLY how Rori wanted them.

“I think we should call it Klaus.” Jamie said.

“What the hell kinda name is that?” Bucky looked at him.

“The fish from American Dad.” Jamie shrugged.

“Ok, ok two things…” Steve looked at Jamie “One, me and your Ma told you that you were far too young to watch that and therefore were not allowed and two, I echo what Buck just said, what the hell kinda name is that?”

“The fish can talk.” Jamie said “And he’s German, used to be a guy until the CIA turned him into a fish and-“ “Ok, just no.” Steve shook his head “The fish is not being called Klaus and if I catch you watching that again, I’m gonna take the plug off your TV” “Oh come on dad, like you didn’t watch shows you weren’t allowed to when you were my age.” Jamie protested and Katie gave a snort.

“Yeah, like TV existed back then…” Sam snorted.

Jamie frowned for a moment before a look of realisation spread across his face “Oh yeah…” “Most Exciting thing we saw was the Wizard of Oz.” Bucky said, nostalgically “Man, Technicolour…what a revelation.” “That’s so whack.” Jamie mumbled.

“Ok, now you’re talking and I’m hearing words but…” Steve shrugged and grinned as Jamie aimed a dig at him which Steve easily dodged. The two began to play spar with one another, their laugher and exclamations getting louder until Rori cut across the noise as she moved her head from where she was looking at the fish in its tank. “I’m going to call her Dori.” she said. Steve stopped what he was doing, which allowed Jamie to land a punch to his arm, which in all fairness was pretty fucking hard.

“Ow…” He said, rubbing at the place Jamie’s knuckles at connected with his bicep and looked down at the 9 year old “Good shot son…” Jamie grinned and they all turned to where Rori was stood, Katie crouched down next to her as they both watched the fish. “What did you say Princess?”

“I said her name. Imma call her Dori, like in Finding Nemo and Finding Dori…” she shrugged “And it’s like my name…”

“Dori and Rori.” Katie grinned at her daughter “Hey, Finding Rori…gedddit?”

Rori grinned and Hi-Fived her Momma the pair of them laughing whilst Steve and Jamie exchanged a look.

“Nah, I think you should call it Dot.” Bucky said simply. Steve turned to look at him. “What? It’s orangey red…so was her hair…”

“No,it’s Dori” Rori corrected him.

“Dot is better.”

“Dori!”

“Dot!”

“DORI MY FISH, MY NAME UNCLE BUCKY!” Rori stamped her foot. And Katie turned to look at her, a firm expression on her face but it was Steve that issued the warning.

“Aurora enough!” he said sternly “Stop it, and you…” he pointed at Bucky who grinned at him “Stop antagonising her”

“Chaos, confusion…my work here is done…” Bucky grinned, giving Steve a salute. “Same time next week?”

******* It was a few weeks later when disaster struck…

“Steeeeeeve!” Katie’s yell hit his ears and he stiffened slightly, before he put down his mug and hurried out of the kitchen and into the den.

“What’s wrong?” he frowned. She simply pointed to the corner of the room where Dori’s tank sat and he saw the orange fish bobbing on the surface.

Dead

“Oh fuck.” He swallowed. “How did that happen?”

“Well, I’m no expert but I suspect the half disintegrated cookie at the bottom of the tank might be something to do with it.” Katie sighed.

“I told her not to feed it them.” Steve groaned.

“You’re gonna have to go get a new one.” Katie looked at him “Before she gets back because I can’t cope with a diva meltdown Steve, not today.”

“Me?” Steve looked at her

“Yes, you.” Katie said. “I was up all night as you know, I can’t stop puking, I’m tired and you’re not in today and…”

“Ok, ok.” Steve nodded, placating her as he dropped a kiss to her cheek “Right…leave it with me.” She smiled at him, leaned up to give him a kiss before she swept out of the den, Harry toddling behind her. Steve glanced at the dead fish before he pulled out his phone.

“S’up Punk?” Bucky greeted him.

“Me and you got a mission, a big mission.” Steve said, “Meet me at the Coffee shop in 30.”

And that’s how both World War 2 Veterans, the Captain and his Sergeant, ended up in a local Pet Shop an hour or so later with said dead fish in a Tupperware container, a very bemused assistant looking at them.

“I need one of these” Steve explained, showing the fish to him.

“You need a goldfish, Sir?” “Yeah but it needs to look exactly like this one.” Steve said.

“Ok, they all look similar…” the assistant began until Bucky cut him off. “No, you don’t know his daughter.” Bucky shook his head “When we say exactly the same, we mean, exactly the same…” Less than an hour later, Dori The Second was placed in the now cleaned tank, the 3 adults and Harry watching it carefully.

“Think she’ll notice?” Steve asked, looking at Katie.

“Hmmm, it looks the same to me.” she said. “Suppose we’ll find out later.” Steve was crapping his pants all day. And when he finally collected Rori from school, he was on tenterhooks until she headed into the Den after getting changed and having a juice box. He glanced at Katie, as the pair of them held their breath, and they thought they’d gotten away with it for a few minutes, until they heard her yell.

“Shit…” Katie mumbled, as they both headed into the room.

“Everything ok?”

“Why does Dori have a white spot on her tail?” Rori looked at her mom and dad.

“Where?” Steve frowned.

“There!” She exclaimed, pointing. Steve leaned down to look and there was the tiniest white spot on the tip of the fish’s tail, no bigger than a pin prick.

“Some fish get markings like that.” Katie said, her quick thinking kicking in “it might go again, or it might get bigger…maybe you should keep notes and some pictures, then you can track it.” “Oh, ok, yeah that sounds cool!” Rori grinned and Steve glanced at his wife, relief flooding his system.

A little later, once Jamie, Rori and Harry were in bed, Katie and Steve sat down to dinner.

“I can’t believe we pulled it off.” Steve sighed, spearing a piece of broccoli with his fork “I mean, of all the missions we’ve run…”

Katie chuckled, “You know, when I was a kid I had a goldfish. Tony got him for my 8th birthday, called him Flounder, you know after the fish in the little mermaid?”

“Yeah?” Steve looked at her.

She nodded “Yup. He lived for like 11 years…or rather I thought he did. On my 18th birthday Tony confessed that Flounder, who was at this point still alive, was in fact Flounder the 9th. He had in fact died 9 times and each time Tony replaced him without me knowing.”

Steve paused, his fork raised halfway to his mouth before he gave a groan. “So basically I’ve turned into Tony?”

“There are worse people you could have become.” Katie snorted as Steve shook his head, swallowing his food.

“Bucky is a dead man.” he sighed, “This is all his fault.” “Well he’d do anything for Rori.” Katie shrugged “She has the pair of you, and Sam for that matter, wrapped around her pinkie.”

“Wonder where she gets that from?” Steve looked at her “I mean, can you blame me? She’s basically Tony with your looks.”

A couple of hours later, after some TV and a cuddle on the couch, both of them decided to head to bed. It was still reasonably early but Katie was tired and Steve decided to go with her, he could watch TV in bed. They both checked on their kids, and Steve left Katie to tuck Harry in properly as he wandered over to Jamie’s room. He opened the door, Stark pushing in to take his customary place on the foot of the bed.

“Lights out pal.” Steve said gently as he dropped a kiss to his forehead. He reached for the remote, turning his son’s TV off as Jamie reached for his lamp, clicking the switch, leaving the only source of light as that which was coming from the hall way. “Night buddy.” “Night…” Jamie said, before he spoke again just as Steve was about to leave the room. “I know you swapped the fish.” Steve turned back to look at him, shrugging “I don’t know what you mean.” “Mom’s right, you’re a terrible liar.” Jamie said and Steve could just make out his face, a smirk was playing on his lips “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Rori…if you give me twenty bucks…” “How about I don’t, and you still don’t or you’re grounded.” “Grounding me aint gonna reverse time and stop me telling her in the first place.” Jamie shrugged.

Steve blinked. He paused for a second, contemplating his options. He could come down like a tonne of bricks on the kid, which to be fair was very tempting, or he could take the easy way out which frankly, at that moment, was far more appealing. And so, Steve Rogers, the first Captain America, once-upon-a-time leader of the World’s Mightiest Heroes found himself reduced to bargaining with a blackmailing 9 year old. His blackmailing 9 year old to be precise.

You little shit.

“5 bucks.” Steve opened the negotiation.

“15.” shot back Jamie.

“10.”

“Deal.” Jamie grinned. “Night dad.” “Yeah, whatever…” Steve grumbled, closing the bedroom door behind him. He stopped dead as he saw Katie looking at him, her hands on her hips.

“Did you seriously just let him do that?” she shook her head.

“Do you wanna deal with a diva tantrum?”

“Steve, he just completely…”

“I know what he did, Doll.” Steve sighed, following her into their room “And for the record, this is on you.” “Me?” she frowned as he reached out, his arms wrapping around her from behind, hands softly cupping her bump. “Yes, because that part of him that just blackmailed me, was 100% Stark.” he said, placing a kiss to her neck.

Katie tilted her head and looked at him with narrowed eyes. He arched an eyebrow at her and she gave a snort, shaking her head. “Who knew your own daughter would be your downfall.”

“She’s Tony but with your looks.” Steve shrugged “What do you expect?”

“Well…” she mused “You said you’d give him 10 bucks but you didn’t say when. You can point this out to him tomorrow, if he wants it he can have it when he’s tidied his room.” “That’s…sneaky” Steve grinned.

“Fight fire with fire Soldier.” she smirked “You pointed out he’s half Stark…well, I’m 100% Stark, which means I can out Stark him all day long.”

#what the stark spangled fuck #stark spangled banner #steve rogers #steve rogers x oc #steve rogers x original female character #katie stark

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